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
