Twitter User In Turkey Jailed For Using 'Allah' in His Handle
A Turkish Twitter user was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Thursday for using a handle that was deemed religiously offensive.
The user @CenabiAllah, was charged with "humiliating the religious values accepted by a part of the people," according to Turkish news website Hurriyet Daily News.
Prosecutors in MuÅŸ province went after the user—whom Hurriyet says is a teacher named "Ertan P." for using the name of God in his Twitter handle and for tweeting messages against the government.
His last tweet was on May 16.
At times, the user spoke in the voice of Allah while criticizing Turkish officials. In reference to a police crackdown against massive protests opposed to the government in June, 2013, Yahoo News reports that @CenabiAllah wrote "Here [Heaven] is very safe because there is no police."
Ertan P. reportedly claimed that the account had been hacked at the time of the anti-government tweets, but the court did not buy the argument.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan pledged to "eradicate" Twitter this past March, as officials said the site was being used to spread messages of dissent. But the government managed to block the site for just two weeks after the nation's highest court said the ban violated the rights of citizens.
Last month, the nation's top court also rejected a ban on YouTube imposed in March. The Turkish government imposed the ban after an audio recording of a meeting with Turkey's foreign minister, intelligence chief and deputy head of the armed forces was posted to the site.
Source: Mashable
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| Photo: REUTERS |
Prosecutors in MuÅŸ province went after the user—whom Hurriyet says is a teacher named "Ertan P." for using the name of God in his Twitter handle and for tweeting messages against the government.
His last tweet was on May 16.
At times, the user spoke in the voice of Allah while criticizing Turkish officials. In reference to a police crackdown against massive protests opposed to the government in June, 2013, Yahoo News reports that @CenabiAllah wrote "Here [Heaven] is very safe because there is no police."
Ertan P. reportedly claimed that the account had been hacked at the time of the anti-government tweets, but the court did not buy the argument.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan pledged to "eradicate" Twitter this past March, as officials said the site was being used to spread messages of dissent. But the government managed to block the site for just two weeks after the nation's highest court said the ban violated the rights of citizens.
Last month, the nation's top court also rejected a ban on YouTube imposed in March. The Turkish government imposed the ban after an audio recording of a meeting with Turkey's foreign minister, intelligence chief and deputy head of the armed forces was posted to the site.
Source: Mashable
Twitter User In Turkey Jailed For Using 'Allah' in His Handle
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