Latest news with #LeMan
Malay Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
LeMan magazine editor held in Turkiye after Erdogan brands cartoon a ‘despicable provocation' insulting the Prophet
ISTANBUL, July 13 — The top editor of Turkey's satirical magazine LeMan has been arrested, media and lawyers said yesterday, the latest detention over accusations that the magazine had published a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed. Four magazine staffers were detained in early July over a cartoon that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labelled a 'despicable provocation' and a 'hate crime,' warning its authors will have to answer for 'disrespecting the prophet.' The magazine and its staff have vigorously denied any link between an illustration published in the magazine, which features a person named Muhammed, and Islam's Prophet Mohammed. The name Muhammed, which has various spellings, is among the most popular names the Muslim faithful give their children. On Saturday the magazine's editor-in-chief, Aslan Ozdemir, was arrested as he flew back to Turkey from France, the MSLA human rights organisation wrote on X. Several media outlets, including the DHA agency and the T24 website, released images showing Ozdemir leaving the plane, handcuffed. The drawing in question shows two characters meeting in the sky above a city devastated by bombs. One is named Muhammed and the other Musa. Cartoonist Dogan Pehlevan said the drawing was meant 'to talk about peace' and condemned 'provocateurs.' 'I have been drawing in Turkey for many years. The first rule you learn is not to address religious issues and not to mock religion,' he told police in his deposition, according to the T24 news site. 'I have always adhered to this principle. I reject the accusations levelled against me,' he added. LeMan's editorial manager Tuncay Akgun told AFP that the drawing in question 'has nothing to do with the Prophet Mohammed. We would never take such a risk.' 'The character is a Muslim killed in Gaza. He was called Mohammed (like) over 200 million people in the Muslim world,' he said. — AFP
Malay Mail
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
LeMan magazine editor held in Turkey after Erdogan brands cartoon a ‘despicable provocation' insulting the Prophet
ISTANBUL, July 13 — The top editor of Turkey's satirical magazine LeMan has been arrested, media and lawyers said yesterday, the latest detention over accusations that the magazine had published a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed. Four magazine staffers were detained in early July over a cartoon that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labelled a 'despicable provocation' and a 'hate crime,' warning its authors will have to answer for 'disrespecting the prophet.' The magazine and its staff have vigorously denied any link between an illustration published in the magazine, which features a person named Muhammed, and Islam's Prophet Mohammed. The name Muhammed, which has various spellings, is among the most popular names the Muslim faithful give their children. On Saturday the magazine's editor-in-chief, Aslan Ozdemir, was arrested as he flew back to Turkey from France, the MSLA human rights organisation wrote on X. Several media outlets, including the DHA agency and the T24 website, released images showing Ozdemir leaving the plane, handcuffed. The drawing in question shows two characters meeting in the sky above a city devastated by bombs. One is named Muhammed and the other Musa. Cartoonist Dogan Pehlevan said the drawing was meant 'to talk about peace' and condemned 'provocateurs.' 'I have been drawing in Turkey for many years. The first rule you learn is not to address religious issues and not to mock religion,' he told police in his deposition, according to the T24 news site. 'I have always adhered to this principle. I reject the accusations levelled against me,' he added. LeMan's editorial manager Tuncay Akgun told AFP that the drawing in question 'has nothing to do with the Prophet Mohammed. We would never take such a risk.' 'The character is a Muslim killed in Gaza. He was called Mohammed (like) over 200 million people in the Muslim world,' he said. — AFP
Spectator
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Islam has a rich history of depicting Muhammad
Journalists at LeMan are in fear for their lives after the Turkish satirical magazine published cartoons appearing to depict the Prophet Muhammad. The publication's editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun denied that the picture showed Muhammad, but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. A mob gathered outside the magazine's office in Istanbul on Monday. In the days since, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the cartoon as a 'vile provocation', and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the image as an 'immoral…attack against our Prophet'. But LeMan's critics appear to be blind to Islam's rich tradition of depicting Muhammad. Much of the backlash over these apparent depictions of Muhammad is rooted in the belief that Islam declares any imagery of him haram, or forbidden; this view seems to be supported by a few hadiths, or sayings of Muhammad, which suggest that because drawings 'create life' they trespass on what Muslims perceive to be Allah's prerogative. But the sweeping assertion banning Muhammad's depiction, often reported as fact in Western media, upholds the most regressive interpretation of the religion as the sole representation of the Muslim faith. It is important to push back against this. For centuries, Muslims have depicted Muhammad. Eleventh-century Persian epics like Varka and Golshah and Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni's The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries feature some of the earliest illustrations of Muhammad during significant stages of his prophethood, including him narrating and explaining Quranic verses. The Mojmal al-Tawarikh, or Compendium of Histories, highlighting the history of Persian kings, also showcase numerous images of Muhammad, including him receiving revelations from the angel Jibraeel. A frequently illustrated image is of the Mi'raj, the Islamic tale of Muhammad's ascension to heaven on a winged horse as part of his journey to Al-Aqsa mosque, the event that asserts the Islamic claim over Jerusalem. The idea of a categorical ban on drawings of Muhammad appears to be grounded in the Salafi strain of Islam, which, in recent decades, has been proliferated by Sunni Arab monarchies as part of their bid to assert control over the Muslim world. But while many of the depictions of Muhammad can be found in Shia Islam, there are numerous examples among Sunni practitioners as well – especially the Sufi interpretations such as the Siyer-i-Nebi, an epic on Muhammad's life published around 1388. Nowadays, such images are rarely mentioned – not least in the West, where those who dare depict Muhammad soon find themselves in trouble. In 2022, for instance, The Lady of Heaven film, which featured Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, resulted in a 'blasphemy' backlash. The movie was subsequently pulled from cinemas in various countries, including in the UK. Violent backlashes over cartoons of Muhammad have been witnessed the world over, as seen in the aftermath of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of satirical sketches of the prophet of Islam in 2005, which resulted in around 150 deaths and attacks on European embassies. Eight Charlie Hebdo journalists were among 12 killed in a jihadist shooting on the French satirical magazine in 2015 over Muhammad caricatures. Showing students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad resulted in French teacher Samuel Paty being decapitated in 2020. When a teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire did the same, he was forced into hiding. He now lives under a new identity. Such incidents have made publications extremely wary of depicting Muhammad. But what makes the ongoing cartoon row in Turkey all the more absurd is the long and rich tradition of drawing Muhammad in Ottoman history. Erdogan appears to be on a quest to replicate a neo-Ottoman empire, but this is one area of Ottoman history he seems rather less keen to emulate. LeMan's cartoon does not satirise or mock Muhammad; it illustrates Moses and Muhammad shaking hands in the sky while there is war and destruction in the background. Regardless of whether the Muhammad in question was Islam's prophet – or a representation of Muslims with the most common masculine first name, as the magazine insisted – the message upheld peace between the Jewish and Muslim communities amidst the conflicts in the Middle East. The mob, unsurprisingly, appears blind to this interpretation – so, too, does Erdogan. Instead, his government has resorted to more typical Islamist intimidation tactics against a magazine that has been critical of it. It is a move designed to silence dissenters. In Turkey, the Kemalist left has already surrendered significant space to Erdogan, endorsing Islamic modesty codes such as the hijab in stark contradiction of traditional, secular laiklik values of the Turkish republic. This row – and the capitulation to the Islamists – clearly shows the direction of travel in Turkey. Turkey has now effectively joined the list of Muslim countries that have adopted blasphemy laws.
Malay Mail
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Turkish cartoon row deepens: ‘LeMan' staff remanded over ‘disrespectful' drawing
ISTANBUL, July 3 — Four staff members at satirical Turkish magazine LeMan were remanded in custody Wednesday over accusations they published a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, a case that watchdogs have called an attack on press freedom. The four, who deny any link between the illustration and the prophet, were held as part of prosecutors' probe into what Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc called the 'disrespectful drawing'. He added that a warrant has been issued for two additional suspects who were abroad. The publication of the cartoon and arrests of staff at the opposition magazine led to clashes in Istanbul on Monday. News site T24 published the police deposition of cartoonist Dogan Pehlevan in which he said that he wanted 'to talk about peace in this drawing' and condemned 'provocateurs'. 'I have been drawing in Turkey for many years. The first rule you learn is not to address religious issues and not to mock religion,' he said. 'I have always adhered to this principle. I reject the accusations levelled against me,' he added. The drawing in question shows two characters meeting in the sky above a city devastated by bombs. One is named Muhammed and the other Musa. 'I just wanted to highlight the absurdity of war, to show that people can get along but do you have to be dead to realise that? That's my only message,' he added. On Monday evening, a favourite haunt of LeMan staff in the Istiklal district of Istanbul was attacked. It escalated into a pitched battle between about 300 people, including people defending the magazine and furious at the arrests. On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the cartoon a 'despicable provocation' and a 'hate crime' whose authors will have to answer for 'disrespecting the prophet'. 'Political opportunists' Despite a ban, some 300 people also gathered around Taksim Mosque in central Istanbul, shouting 'don't forget Charlie Hebdo', referring to a deadly Islamist militant attack on the French magazine in 2015. LeMan's editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun told AFP that the drawing in question 'has nothing to do with the Prophet Muhammad', adding: 'We would never take such a risk.' 'The character is a Muslim killed in Gaza... He was called Muhammed (like) more than 200 million people in the Muslim world,' he said. In a joint statement, Turkey's TGS press union and professional organisations said they had 'great concern' at the rise in attacks and 'violent rhetoric' due to the publication. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, the international network Cartooning for Peace and the US association Cartoonists Rights condemned the attack on press freedom in Turkey. They called on the Turkish authorities to ensure the safety of the editorial team. Terry Anderson, of Cartoonists Rights, said the arrests were 'based on a lie and are being exploited by political opportunists for intimidation and repression'. 'We demand the release of those detained and an immediate end to these baseless prosecutions,' he added. Many Turks and press organisations drew a parallel with the attack on LeMan and the Sivas massacre in 1993, when a radical Islamist mob set fire to a hotel, killing 33 writers and artists mainly from the Alevi minority. The protesters had been angered by the presence of the writer Aziz Nesin who had questioned the authenticity of the Quran and also sought to translate Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses. — AFP
UAE Moments
02-07-2025
- Politics
- UAE Moments
Turkish Magazine's Prophet Muhammad Cartoon Causes Uproar
Hundreds of people came onto the streets in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Monday, June 30, after LeMan magazine published a cartoon, which appears to show the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H). LeMan wrote on X, "The work does not refer to the Prophet Muhammed in any way." Portestors gathered outside the magazine's offices in the city, chanting, "tooth for tooth, blood for blood, revenge, revenge". Riot police were deployed, and a correspondent from Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported seeing rubber bullets and tear gas being fired to disperse the crowds. The country's interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, revealed that the magazine's editor-in-chief, graphic designer, institutional director, and cartoonist have been detained. The chief public prosecutor's office has initiated an investigation into the matter for "publicly insulting religious values". The country;s justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, said that the necessary legal measures will be taken against the detainees. Arrest warrants have been issued for other members of the magazine's senior management. LeMan has apologized fo the cartoon, but they had rejected allegations that the cartoon depicts the Prophet. 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," the magazine said in a statement on X. "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."
