Turkey arrests journalists for alleged cartoon Muhammad

Four staff of a satirical magazine in Turkey were arrested for publishing a cartoon, which appears to be shown by Prophet Muhammad, a holy religious figure whose image is forbidden in Islam.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikai condemned the image of Leman’s magazine as “shameless”, announcing that the editor -in -chief, graphic designer, institutional director and cartoon.

In a report on the social media website, Leman denied that his cartoon was a cartoon on Muhammad, saying that “the work in no way refers to the prophet Muhammad.”

Riot police were deployed in Istanbul on Monday when hundreds of people protested against the publication.

The participants of the rally gathered near the offices of the Leman, chanting slogans such as “tooth tooth, blood for blood, revenge, revenge”.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported that seeing rubber bullets and tear gases were fired to disperse the crowd.

Turkish Justice Minister said the investigation was launched by the Main Prosecutor’s Office for “publicly insulting religious values”.

“Caricature or any form of visual representation of our prophet not only harm our religious values, but also damages public peace,” Ilmaz Tunka wrote on X.

“The necessary legal steps will be taken without delay” against journalists Leman, he added.

Yerlikaya also shared a video of four staff who were arrested over the “mean picture”.

For other members of the highest management of the magazine, arrest warrants were also issued.

Images of the cartoon appeared on social media showing two characters with wings floating in the sky above the city.

One of the characters is painted, saying, “Peace on you, I’m Muhamet,” and the other answer “Peace, I, I Mus.”

Leman apologized to “well -duty readers who feel hurt” but defended their work and dismissed the allegations that the cartoon was Mohammed’s image.

“The cartoon wanted to display the righteous Muslims, discovering a Muslim killed by Israel, and he never was going to insult religious values,” the statement on X.

“We do not accept the spot that rushes at us because there is no reflection of our prophet. You must be very angry to interpret the cartoon in this way.”

Editor -in -Chief Leman Tunkay Akgun, who is currently in Paris, said AFP that the work was misinterpreted, and the magazine “never risks”.

He added that the reverse reaction has “similarity to Charlie Habda”, which is “very intentional and very disturbing”, citing the 2015 attack on the French satirical magazine after published by Prophet Muhammad.

In Charlie Hebd’s offices, militants who killed 12 people and were one of the worst security crises in France’s history.