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Turkey cartoonist could get 2 years in prison

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Alan Gardner May 21, 2008 1 minute 0 comments

A cartoonist in Turkey has been indicted for insulting a supreme court prosecutor in a cartoon that was published March 19th. The cartoonist, Ibrahim Ozdabak, drew an owl sitting on a branch, wearing a judge’s robe and hooting “Huguk! Huguk!” in an play on Turkish word for “law” (huhuk).

The cartoon did not name any judge, but the prosecutor insisted that it clearly alluded to Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, the chief prosecutor of the supreme court of appeals, who had brought charges of anti-secularism against the ruling AK party two days before the cartoon appeared.

If convicted, Ibrahim could spend two years in prison. The case goes to trial in September.