Latest news with #Birgun
NBC News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Police in Turkey detain satirical magazine employees over Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy
Police in Turkey detained three more employees of a satirical magazine on Tuesday, raising the number of people taken into custody over a cartoon that allegedly depicted the Prophet Muhammad to four. 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. 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.
01-07-2025
- Politics
Turkey detains 3 magazine staff over prophet cartoon controversy
ISTANBUL -- Turkish police detained three more employees of a satirical magazine on Tuesday, raising the number of people taken into custody over a cartoon that allegedly depicted the Prophet Muhammad to four. 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. 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.
Al Arabiya
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Two Turkish journalists imprisoned on blackmail charges released on bail
Two prominent Turkish investigative journalists were released on bail on Friday, with their newspapers denouncing their arrests on blackmail charges as attempted intimidation by the authorities. Timur Soykan and Murat Agirel had their homes searched and were taken into custody on Thursday after they investigated the sale of television station Flash Haber TV to a Turkish tycoon. Their employers -- opposition dailies Birgun and Cumhuriyet respectively -- said they believed the reporters had also been targeted because of their separate investigation into the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. 'We were subject to a great injustice... but we're happy we weren't sent to prison,' Soykan told the press as he left an Istanbul court. 'We were on the trail of a scandal,' he said of their probe into the acquisition of Flash Haber TV. He said he and Agirel had just been 'doing our job as journalists'. The two, who are among Turkey's best-known investigative journalists, were arrested on Thursday morning on allegations they had carried out 'threats' and 'blackmail' during their probe into Flash Haber TV. Officials seized electronic equipment from their homes. On Thursday, the chairman of the board of Birgun said the authorities were attempting to gag the press. 'The government's target is not crime and criminals but real journalists who fight to convey the truth,' Ibrahim Aydin wrote on X. Soykan and Agirel had recently raised concerns about the arrest of Imamoglu, who is seen as the main rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Media rights group Reporters Without Borders said they posted a YouTube video alleging there had been irregularities in official probes targeting Imamoglu and several other district mayors from the main opposition CHP party. 'Journalists have to get used to having their houses searched and being arrested when they carry out investigations,' Soykan said on Friday. 'We won't stop writing what we know to be true,' Cumhuriyet quoted Agirel as saying. Imamoglu's arrest on March 19 triggered the largest wave of protests in Turkey in more than a decade. At least 13 Turkish journalists have been arrested since the start of the protests, accused of participating in illegal gatherings they say they were covering as part of their job. A Swedish journalist was also arrested in Istanbul and accused of 'terrorism' and 'insulting' Erdogan.
