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A well-known Turkish journalist has been jailed pending a lawsuit for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, her lawyer said.
Sedef Kabas was arrested after quoting a proverb on a TV channel and social media, referring to an ox. Based on the insult law, tens of thousands of people have been prosecuted for targeting Mr Erdogan since he became president in 2014, after more than a decade as prime minister.
The journalist’s lawyer, Ugur Poyraz, wrote on Twitter that she had been formally arrested during a court appearance in Istanbul on Saturday. The judge accepted the prosecution’s argument that the journalist posed a risk of leaving the country.
Sedef Kabas, 53, has directed a series of popular television programs over a career spanning nearly 30 years.
She was stopped by police at her home in Istanbul early Saturday morning after her comments on Tele 1 television and Twitter.
Government figures condemned Ms. Kabas, while opposition politicians defended her right to speak freely.
“Insulting the elected president of our nation, with ugly and vulgar expressions, is in fact an attack on national determination“, Wrote on Twitter Numan Kurtulmus, deputy chairman of the ruling party.
Opposition party leader Meral Aksener used a hashtag in support of journalist Kabas. “This mentality will go away and justice will be restored in Turkey“, She wrote.
Insults to the president are violations that could lead to a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
According to Justice Ministry figures since 2014, more than 35,500 lawsuits have been filed for insulting Mr. Erdogan, resulting in about 13,000 convictions.
Turkey is under international pressure to change the law. In October, the European Court of Human Rights said after the arrest of a person in 2017, based on the law of insults, that the authorities had violated his freedom of expression./VOA
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