{"id":1308,"date":"2026-02-06T15:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T15:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/1308\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T15:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T15:45:07","slug":"turkish-prosecutors-file-indictment-for-influencer-over-video-allegedly-mocking-religious-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/1308\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish prosecutors file indictment for influencer over video allegedly mocking religious values"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Murat.jpeg\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"391\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- alt=\"\" title=\"Murat\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Murat-696x391.jpeg\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"391\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Murat-696x391.jpeg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"Murat\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Turkish prosecutors have filed an indictment seeking up to three years in prison for social media influencer Murat \u00d6v\u00fc\u00e7, who was arrested in December on charges of \u201cinciting hatred and hostility\u201d after posting a video in which he covered his hair with a headscarf.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/bianet.org\/haber\/sosyal-medya-fenomeni-murat-ovuc-hakkinda-3-yila-kadar-hapis-istemi-316431\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bianet news website<\/a>, the K\u00fc\u00e7\u00fck\u00e7ekmece Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office in \u0130stanbul submitted the indictment to a criminal court on Friday, 46 days after \u00d6v\u00fc\u00e7\u2019s arrest on December 20, 2025. Prosecutors requested that his pretrial detention continue.<\/p>\n<p>\u00d6v\u00fc\u00e7 is accused under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes publicly inciting segments of society to hatred and hostility and carries a sentence of one to three years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>According to the indictment the investigation began after a social media account shared a video showing \u00d6v\u00fc\u00e7 wearing a headscarf, accompanied by commentary highlighting a diamond ring he displayed toward the camera. Prosecutors alleged that the video mocked the headscarf, which they described as an important religious obligation in Islam.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The indictment states that \u00d6v\u00fc\u00e7, who identifies himself as gay and is widely known on social media, used \u201ceffeminate gestures\u201d while wearing the headscarf and that the video, due to his public profile, reached wide audiences and posed a \u201cclear and imminent danger\u201d to public order and social peace.<\/p>\n<p>The court has not yet set a trial date.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey has in recent years prosecuted a range of individuals, including journalists, artists and social media users, under laws criminalizing insults to religious values or incitement to hatred. Critics say such provisions have been used more frequently during President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rule to pursue dissidents and government critics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish prosecutors have filed an indictment seeking up to three years in prison for social media influencer Murat&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[422,423,425,426,312,427,428,1774,429,431,131,132,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-1308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-ak-party","9":"tag-akp","10":"tag-democracy","11":"tag-erdogan","12":"tag-human-rights","13":"tag-justice","14":"tag-law","15":"tag-murat-ovuc","16":"tag-oppression","17":"tag-rule-of-law","18":"tag-stockholm","19":"tag-sweden","20":"tag-turkey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}