US EditionTurkey Detains Satirical Magazine Staff over Cartoon Accused of Insulting the Prophet Mohammed
- On July 1, 2025, in Istanbul, Turkish officials took into custody four employees of the satirical publication LeMan in connection with a cartoon alleged to insult the Prophet Muhammad.
- The arrests followed widespread outrage fueled by a cartoon showing two robed figures named Muhammad and Musa above a bombed city, which many interpreted as depicting Islamic and Jewish prophets.
- LeMan's editor-in-chief Tuncay Akgun denied the accusations, stating the cartoon portrayed a fictional Muslim man killed in Gaza named Muhammad, and that the magazine would never risk insulting the Prophet.
- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the image as a 'vile provocation' and promised legal consequences, while opposition leader Ozgur Ozel supported the magazine's right to free expression despite not approving the cartoon.
- The incident triggered protests and clashes in Istanbul, highlighting concerns about media freedom in Turkey, which is placed near the bottom of the global press freedom rankings according to the 2025 Reporters Without Borders index.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Nonprofit urges release of four detained members of left-wing Türkiye magazine
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday demanded that Turkish authorities release four staff members of the LeMan magazine who were arrested for a publication purportedly depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Police in Türkiye detained the cartoonists on Monday. The publication superficially illustrated Muhammad, Islam’s chief prophet, and Moses, a critical prophet of Judaism, shaking hands in the sky while war erupts below them. While L…
The men were arrested on suspicion of intentionally insulting religious values, which is a crime.
Turkey arrests magazine staff over drawing of Prophet Muhammad
Istanbul: Turkish authorities on Wednesday arrested four staff members of a satirical magazine on charges of inciting “public hatred and enmity” over a controversial cartoon that officials claim depicts the Prophet Muhammad, Turkish state television reported. The cartoon, published in the weekly LeMan magazine, sparked a backlash from government officials and religious groups, culminating in protests outside the magazine’s Istanbul offices. Auth…
Turkey jails satirical magazine staff over alleged Prophet Muhammad cartoon
Four staff members of the satirical weekly LeMan were arrested and charged with “publicly insulting religious values” amid protests against the image and government crackdown on the magazine’s social media accounts.
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