Protests in Turkey over alleged cartoon of Prophet Muhammad, four journalists arrested
Four
employees of a satirical magazine in Turkey have been arrested for publishing a
cartoon that appeared to depict the Prophet Muhammad.
It should be
noted that drawing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad is forbidden in Islam.
Turkish
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya described the cartoon published in the Lemen
magazine as “shameful” and said that its editor, graphic designer, director and
cartoonist had been detained.
The magazine
denied publishing the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in a post on the social
media platform X, saying that “there is no mention of the Prophet Muhammad
anywhere in our work.”
A heavy
police presence was deployed in Istanbul on Monday as protests against the
magazine were taking place there.
Protesters
gathered outside the magazine's offices and chanted "teeth for a tooth,
blood for blood, revenge, revenge."
According to
an AFP correspondent, police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the
crowd.
The Turkish
justice minister said the chief prosecutor's office had opened an investigation
into the case for "insulting religious values."
Justice
Minister Yilmaz Tantış wrote in a post on X that "any kind of cartoon and
depiction of our prophet is not only harmful to our religious values, but also
destroys the peace of society."
He added
that "necessary legal measures will be taken without delay" against
the magazine's journalists.
Yilmaz
Tantış also shared videos on social media of the arrest of four employees for
publishing the "worst cartoon" on social media.
Warrants
have also been issued for the arrest of other senior officials of the magazine.
Images of
the cartoon also appeared on social media, showing two characters with wings
flying in the sky above a besieged city.
One
character in the cartoon says, “Peace be upon you, I am Muhammad,” while the
other replies, “Peace be upon you, I am Moses.”
Lemon
magazine apologized to “readers who were offended,” but defended its work,
saying that the cartoon printed in the magazine did not depict the Prophet
Muhammad.
In a
statement to X, the magazine said that “the cartoonist wanted to show the innocence
of oppressed Muslims by showing the killing of a Muslim by Israel.”
The magazine
denied the accusation that it had printed the cartoon of the Prophet, saying,
“We cannot accept this stain because it is not the image of our Prophet.” You
have to be very malicious to describe the cartoon in that way.’
Lemon’s
editor-in-chief, currently in Paris, told AFP that his work had been
misinterpreted and that the magazine “would never take such a risk.”
He added
that the reaction to the cartoons was “similar to Charlie Hebdo,” which was
“deliberate and disturbing.”
The French
magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked in 2015 after it published cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammad.
Twelve
people were killed in an attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices by gunmen in the
worst security crisis in French history.
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