Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

Turkish magazine editor and others face charges over ‘hateful’ Mo cartoon

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DIRECTOR of the satirical magazine, LeMan — Zafer Aknar, above — and five colleagues have all had arrest warrants served on them for “inciting the public to hatred, hostility or humiliating” following the publication of a cartoon that showed “prophets” Muhammed and Moses in a “blasphemous” manner.

According to the BBC, the cartoon has since been posted on social media. It depicts two characters with wings floating in the sky over a city under siege.

One of the characters is pictured saying “Peace be upon you, I’m Muhammed”, and the other replying, “Peace be upon you, I’m Musa”.

The LeMan cartoon was reposted on Reddit ExMuslim, where some commenter pointed out:

The comic actually doesn’t even depict Muhammad and Moses. It depicts two people who lost their lives in the Palestine-Israel war. ‘Muhammad’ and ‘Moses’ are used as common names for Muslims and Jews. The comic is Pro-Palestinian …

LeMan apologised to “well-intentioned readers who feel hurt” but defended its work and rejected allegations that the cartoon was a depiction of Muhammad.

It said in a statement on X.

The cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel, and he never intended to insult religious values. We do not accept the stain that is cast on us because there is no depiction of our Prophet. You have to be very malicious to interpret the cartoon in this way.

LeMan’s editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun, who is currently in Paris, told AFP the work had been misinterpreted and the magazine would “never take such a risk”.

He added that the backlash draws “similarities with Charlie Hebdo” which is “very intentional and very worrying”, referencing the 2015 attack on the French satirical magazine after it published a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

Charlie Hebdo’s offices were stormed by gunmen who killed 12 people and was one of the worst security crises in France’s history.

The Week magazine reports that LeMan is now subject to a criminal investigation following the publication of the cartoon in its June 26 issue. Out of six who were detained, four has been arrested. The magazine issue has also been put on hold and access to their social media accounts have been blocked.

On a post on X, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunc said:

An investigation has been initiated by Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s office under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code for the crime of ‘publicly insulting religious values’ regarding the caricature of our Prophet drawn by a humour magazine.

He also said:

No freedom grants the right to make sacred values of a belief subject to “ugly humour.”

And that:

Necessary legal steps will be taken without delay against this provocative attempt that disregards the beliefs of millions of Muslims.

In 2016 Turkish prosecutors issued orders to detain 42 journalists and 31 academics as part of the crackdown following the July 15 coup attempt in Turkey. The move was part of a purge of alleged supporters of US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, accused of plotting to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government.

Because of its coverage of the attempted coup, the offices of LeMan were besieged by a mob, and police halted stopped further printing of the issue in question, and seized copies that had already been printed.

The latest run-in LeMan has had with the authorities sparked violent clashes, including another attack on its offices.

Hat tip: BarrieJohn

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One response to “Turkish magazine editor and others face charges over ‘hateful’ Mo cartoon”

  1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    Yet another ‘islamic paradise’ demonstrating why British tourists should stay away.

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