Turkey: "Blasphemous" writer gets 13 months in jail  

TURKISH WRITER SEVAN NISANYAN

Sevan Nişanyan has been accused of publishing an offensive article about Mohammed. Similar accusatio...

Thirteen months in prison for blasphemy. This was the court sentence passed by an Istanbul court today, against Sevan Nişanyan, a Turkish writer and journalist of Armenian origin, accused of publishing an article on his blog last September that was considered to be offensive towards the prophet Mohammed. In a blog post titled, “[We] need to fight hate speech”, Nişanyan, 57, wrote: “Making fun of an Arab leader who claimed he contacted Allah hundreds of years ago and received political, financial and sexual benefits is not hate speech.” He added: “It is an almost kindergarten-level test of what is called freedom of expression.” After the sentence was passed, Nişanyan republished the incriminating text on his blog, adding: “Let’s share the article that was sentenced to 13-and-a-half months at the Istanbul 10th Criminal Court for insulting religious bla-bla.”