Media worker Ali Yavuz is one of four LeMan magazine staffers detained in a June 30 police raid of the satirical, leftist, Turkish magazine’s offices following the publication of what officials claimed was a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. Yavuz, an institutional manager, was detained with colleagues Doğan Pehlivan, a cartoonist; Cebrail Okçu, a graphic designer; and Zafer Aknar, a news editor.
The LeMan staff were indicted in early September and all of the defendants, including Yavuz, were charged with “provoking the people into hatred and animosity” which may lead to a prison sentence of up to four years and six months for each if found guilty. A court is yet to accept the indictment for the trial date to be set.
CPJ’s emailed request for comment from the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul did not receive a reply.