Critics of Turkey’s government and Islam continue being targeting by the country’s authorities.
On May 17, Turkish photographer Fırat Erez, a former supporter of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party, was arrested in the city of Antalya after saying “Islam is immoral” on his Twitter account.
“This is not hate. It is a decision,” he wrote. “Islam is immoral. His Prophet, Allah, his disciples could not protect it. Islam has not overcome the moral barrier. It cannot. You cannot find the truth by bending over five times a day. Plain, clear and painful.”
Erez was detained by Antalya police for “insulting religious values” and “provoking hatred or hostility in one section of the public against another section”.
Twitter has since suspended Erez’s account, and those who visit his Twitter feed today only see the following notification: “Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules”.