A Turkish university student was sentenced for one year for re-tweeting a satirical article that appeared on “Zaytung”, a popular Turkish website which publishes false and satirical stories in a journalistic style.

Meral Tutcali, a student in Anadolu University, was sentenced by the provincial court of Adana to one year in jail for “insulting a public official”, after she re-tweeted Zaytung’s article, which reported satirically that former Adana governor Huseyin Avni Cos declared his autonomy. The article included an illustration showing the Governor in a military vehicle, surrounded by guards. The picture was taken during a national holiday during which it’s customary for governors to appear in such parades. Tutcali’s house was raided twice by police for her retweet.

The court later suspended the sentence, as Tutcali had no previous criminal record. She was, however, warned that if she commits another similar offence in the next five years, the sentence will be imposed. Zaytung was not prosecuted for it’s original article.

Zaytung

http://www.zaytung.com/

Turkish college student convicted for tweeting satirical news story (23.04.2015)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/world/europe/turkish-college-student-convicted-for-tweeting-satirical-news-story.html?_r=0

Turkish student gets suspended jail sentence for retweeting satirical article on Twitter (23.04.2015)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkish-student-gets-suspended-jail-sentence-for-retweeting-satirical-article-on-twitter-10198146.html

University student sentenced to jail for retweeting satirical article (22.04.2015)

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/university-student-sentenced-to-jail-for-retweeting-satirical-article.aspx?pageID=238&nID=81411&NewsCatID=341

Turkish student sentenced to prison for retweeting satirical article (22.04.2015)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-22/turkish-student-sentenced-prison-retweeting-satirical-article