Turkey: Journalist Sentenced to Prison for Insulting Prime Minister in a Tweet

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Aytaç's sentence is reportedly suspended for one year, but it's unclear if that means he won't end up going to prison or if his sentence is simply delayed.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Mashable |
By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai |

A Turkish journalist is going to prison for insulting Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Twitter.

The criminal court in Ankara sentenced Önder Aytaç, a well-known writer and columnist for the opposition newspaper Taraf, to a 10-month prison sentence on Monday for "insulting public officials" — in this case, Erdoğan, according to the BBC.

See also: 'Twitter, Mtwitter!': Turkish Prime Minister's 9 Craziest Quotes About Social Media

Aytaç, whose Twitter handle is @onderaytac, is a former police official and part of the Gülen movement, a religious group that once had close ties to Erdoğan but now opposes the Prime Minister. Aytaç's sentence is reportedly suspended for one year, but it's unclear if that means he won't end up going to prison or if his sentence is simply delayed.

The tweet that put Aytaç in Turkish government's cross hairs was reportedly posted in 2012. At the time, Erdoğan announced that he would be shutting down private schools that the Gülen movement operates around the world.

Linking to a story on the matter, Aytaç, who has 180,000 followers on Twitter, said: "CLOSE THEM DOWN MY CHIEF :-)" using the word "my chief" (ustam in Turkish), which is how Erdoğan loyalist refer to their leader.

But Aytaç added the letter k at the end of ustam, which is what got him in trouble, according to Zeynep Tufekci, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina.



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