Satirical magazine employees detained over prophet cartoon controversy in Turkey
The cartoon, published in LeMan magazine, drew a string of condemnation from government officials who stated it represented the Prophet Muhammad and sparked an angry protest outside the magazine's Istanbul office.
LeMan, in a statement late Monday, denied the allegations and insisted the drawing was intended to portray a Muslim man named Muhammad and was meant to highlight the suffering of Muslims.
The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said the cartoon showed "two figures alleged to be Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Moses - with wings and halos - shaking hands in the sky, while a war scene unfolds below with bombs raining down." The independent Birgun newspaper also said the winged figures hovering in the sky were interpreted by some as Prophets Muhammad and Moses.
Authorities on Monday launched an investigation into the weekly magazine over accusations of "publicly insulting religious values" and detained the cartoonist, Dogan Pehlevan, from his home.
Islamist protesters clash with Turkish anti riot police officers as they gather to protest LeMan cartoon magazine in Istanbul on June 30, 2025.
OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images
Overnight, LeMan's Editor-in-Chief Zafer Aknar, graphic designer Cebrail Okcu and manager Ali Yavuz were also detained, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Detention warrants were also issued for two editors who are believed to be abroad, the report said.
Late on Monday, demonstrators, reportedly belonging to an Islamic group, hurled rocks at LeMan's headquarters in central Istanbul and scuffled with police.
The publication apologized for any offense caused, but it also called on authorities to act against what it described as a smear campaign and to protect freedom of expression.
Separate videos of the arrests, shared by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, showed Pehlevan and Yavuz being forcibly taken from their homes, their hands being cuffed behind their backs.
"These shameless people will be held accountable before the law," Yerlikaya wrote on X.
Peygamber Efendimizin (S.A.V) karikatürünü yaparak nifak tohumları ekmeye çalışanları bir kez daha lanetliyorum.
Bu alçak çizimi yapan D.P. adlı şahıs yakalanarak gözaltına alınmıştır.
Bir kez daha yineliyorum:
Bu hayasızlar hukuk önünde hesap verecektir. pic.twitter.com/7xYe94B65d — Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) June 30, 2025
"You will not escape from our security forces or from justice," Yerlikaya wrote in a separate post.
"An act of annihilation"
But the magazine's editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, told AFP by phone from Paris that the image had been misinterpreted and was "not a caricature of Prophet Mohammed."
"In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in the bombardments of Israel is fictionalized as Mohammed. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Mohammed," he said, saying it had "nothing to do with Prophet Mohammed.
"We would never take such a risk," he said.
Police had also taken over the magazine's offices on Istiklal Avenue and arrest warrants had been issued for several other of the magazine's executives, presidential press aide Fahrettin Altin wrote on X.
In a string of posts on X, LeMan defended the cartoon and said it had been deliberately misinterpreted to cause a provocation.
"The cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel, he never intended to belittle religious values," it said.
Akgun said the legal attack on the magazine, a satirical bastion of opposition which was founded in 1991, was "incredibly shocking but not very surprising."
"This is an act of annihilation. Ministers are involved in the whole business, a cartoon is distorted," he said.
"Drawing similarities with Charlie Hebdo is very intentional and very worrying," he said of the French satirical magazine whose offices were stormed by Islamist gunmen in 2015.
The attack, which killed 12 people, occurred after it published caricatures lampooning the Prophet Mohammed.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
6 hours ago
- New York Post
Kim Jong Un's powerful sister rejects appeasement overture by South's new president
SEOUL, South Korea — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed an appeasement overture by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interests in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers. 5 Kim Yo Jong giving a speech. AP Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North Korea, now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia, has no intentions of returning to diplomacy with South Korea and the US anytime soon. But experts said North Korea could change its course if it thinks it cannot maintain the same booming ties with Russia when the Russia-Ukraine war nears an end. 'We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with' South Korea, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June. In an effort to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea, Lee's government has halted anti-Pyongyang frontline loudspeaker broadcasts, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets across the border and repatriated North Koreans who were drifted south in wooden boats months earlier. 5 It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June. Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP via 5 South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaking at a press conference. AP 5 North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the US since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019. REUTERS Kim Yo Jong called such steps 'sincere efforts' by Lee's government to develop ties. But she said the Lee government won't be much different from its predecessors, citing what it calls 'their blind trust' to the military alliance with the US and attempt to 'stand in confrontation' with North Korea. She mentioned the upcoming summertime South Korea-US military drills, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the US since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions. North Korea has since focused on building more powerful nuclear weapons targeting its rivals. North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine, likely in return for economic and military assistance. South Korea, the US and others say Russia may even give North Korea sensitive technologies that can enhance its nuclear and missile programs. Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly boasted of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed intent to resume diplomacy with him. But North Korea hasn't publicly responded to Trump's overture. 5 North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine. REUTERS In early 2024, Kim Jong Un ordered the rewriting of the constitution to remove the long-running state goal of a peaceful Korean unification and cement South Korea as an 'invariable principal enemy.' That caught many foreign experts by surprise because it was seen as eliminating the idea of shared statehood between the war-divided Koreas and breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms. Many experts say Kim likely aims to guard against South Korean cultural influence and bolster his family's dynastic rule. Others say Kim wants legal room to use his nuclear weapons against South Korea by making it as a foreign enemy state, not a partner for potential unification which shares a sense of national homogeneity.
UPI
8 hours ago
- UPI
Fatal DR Congo church attack linked to Islamic State-backed rebels
A Lendu militiaman arrives to the U.N. disarmament post of Yambi in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo to give up his weapon in 2005. Bunia is 75 miles east of Komada, where Islamic State-backed rebels attacked a church in Momanda. File Pohot by Riccy Gares/EPA July 27 (UPI) -- Islamic-backed rebels killed at least 43 people in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, including raiding a Catholic Church, early Sunday, a United Nations-backed radio station reported. The Allied Democratic Forces emerged in Uganda in the 1990s against the marginalization of Muslims but rebels have gone across the border into DR Congo. About 20 people were stabbed to death during the church's night vigil in the town of Komanda, Radio Okapi reported. Other bodies were found in burned-out houses and businesses near the church. One man's charred body was found in a truck set on fire. The DRC Army confirmed the incident but reported 10 deaths. An alarm sounded at 2 a.m. Sunday of smoke from burning houses. The attackers had already left the scene when military authorities arrived. All activities in the city were suspended. The attack was about 7.5 miles from the center of Komanda. Security forces, including the DR Congo Armed Forces, Ugandan military and local police, are searching for the attackers. The area had been relatively peaceful with residents returning to the city. Komanda is in DR Congo's Ituri province, which is mineral rich. The United States is seeking to get access to those critical minerals, which are used to manufacture high-tech devices and weapons. On June 27, DR Congo and Rwanda signed a peace agreement in Washington, D.C., after 30 years of conflict between the two nations. Then on July 19, DR Congo and M23 rebels backed by Rwanda signed a declaration of peace after nearly four years of fighting. The rebels were not involved in the agreement in Washington but the declaration must follow the Washington Accord brokered by the United States. Around 7 million people have been displaced in Congo, which has a population of 106 million. Rwanda also borders Uganda to the south.
New York Post
10 hours ago
- New York Post
Muslim Brotherhood's ‘grand jihad' is growing— just over the US border
In a chilling internal memo, the Muslim Brotherhood laid out its long-term strategy to conquer North America through what it called a 'civilization-jihadist process' aimed at 'sabotaging' and 'eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.' The detailed 18-page document, written in 1991, surfaced in 2007 during the Holy Land Foundation trial — the largest terrorism financing case in US history. More than three decades later, the Brotherhood's strategy is no longer theoretical. It is materializing just north of the US border in Canada. Advertisement 7 Murad Adailah, head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, in an interview. REUTERS The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Sunni Islamist movement founded in Egypt in 1928, is committed to establishing a global caliphate governed by sharia, an often extreme set of laws on a range of religious and societal matters that Muslims believe was given to them by God. Though often cloaked in the language of charity and civil society, the Brotherhood's true objective remains Islamist dominance — something its leaders have repeatedly emphasized. Indeed, the group's founder Hassan al-Banna once declared, 'It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.' Advertisement And while the Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s, its ideology is broadly seen as a 'stepping stone' to violent jihad. Its teachings provided the foundation for jihadist groups like Hamas and al Qaeda and inspired notorious terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Islamic State founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. 7 Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie walks out of a defendant cage to speak before judge during his trial in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, May 18, 2014. AP Advertisement State actors like Qatar and Turkey strategically lend the Brotherhood substantial support, giving it the resources and legitimacy needed to expand its influence across the West. In Canada, though, these realities are almost entirely absent from public conversation or debate. The country's shockingly permissive immigration policies, multiculturalist ethos and general complacency toward national security threats have made it fertile ground for the Brotherhood's insidious ambitions. 7 Sealed entrance to the Muslim Brotherhood's office in Amman. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Brotherhood-affiliated organizations have proliferated in Canada for decades, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy warned last month, methodically expanding and spreading radical Islamist ideology without fear of repercussion. These organizations, often posing as benign religious or charitable entities, have built an extensive infrastructure of mosques, schools and community centers across the country — with the help of significant taxpayer funds. Senior Brotherhood leadership in Canada has reportedly encouraged followers to take up key government positions to push policies in line with sharia. This strategy mirrors the Brotherhood's operations in Europe — and there, authorities have begun to take notice. A recently leaked French government report described the Brotherhood's European activities as a political project designed to gradually transform democratic societies through 'strategic ambiguity.' 7 Senior Brotherhood leadership in Canada has reportedly encouraged followers to take up key government positions to push policies in line with sharia. REUTERS The report warned of the Brotherhood's duplicitous nature — charming in public, conniving in private — and of its aspirations, which are fundamentally at odds with democratic pluralism. The British government reached similar conclusions in a 2015 investigative review. In Canada, these warnings have gone largely unheeded. Politicians fear losing the increasingly important Muslim vote, and dread being labeled 'Islamophobic,' the most feared word in the country. Advertisement As a consequence, the country is witnessing troubling symptoms of burgeoning extremism. 7 Muslim Brotherhood supporters protesting in Cairo. AP Antisemitic incidents in Canada spiked by a staggering 670% in 2024, and the 83 terrorism-related charges filed between April 2023 and March 2024 represented a 488% jump. Those figures, along with the increasingly menacing nature of pro-Hamas demonstrations and widespread youth radicalization, all point to the Brotherhood's growing grip on the ideological landscape. Advertisement And they pose serious ramifications for US national security. The porous northern border, combined with Canada's lax immigration vetting procedures, creates an ideal launch pad for extremist cross-border propaganda and recruitment — and even terror operations. 7 Antisemitic incidents in Canada spiked by a staggering 670% in 2024, and the 83 terrorism-related charges filed between April 2023 and March 2024 represented a 488% jump. dts News Agency Germany/Shutterstock 7 Protestors in Amman, Jordan, waving flags and signs against the US-led Middle East economic conference. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Last year, for instance, a Pakistani national was arrested as he attempted to enter the United States via Quebec to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass attack on the Jewish community in New York. A new bill in Congress seeks to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization — but it would mean little to continental security if Canada doesn't follow suit. North America urgently needs a coordinated response. The United States must press Canada to blacklist Brotherhood front groups masquerading as religious and charitable organizations, and to scrutinize its activists' and ideologues' activities. Advertisement Further, US authorities should pay closer attention to a wide range of cross-border activities that could have Brotherhood connections — including academic exchange programs, live speaking events and asset transfers. The Canadian fentanyl threat that President Donald Trump decries pales in comparison to the Muslim Brotherhood's aspirations of a North American Islamic caliphate. Trump must get Canada to prevent its Islamist threat from metastasizing further — or risk the United States becoming collateral damage in the Brotherhood's 'grand jihad.' Casey Babb is an adviser with Secure Canada and director of the Promised Land Project at Ottawa's Macdonald-Laurier Institute, where Joe Adam George is a national-security analyst.
