Friday, 04 July 2025
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** Turkey’s crackdown on cartoonists is no laughing matter
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Above is the cartoon that led to the arrest of several journalists in Turkey this week. It appeared in LeMan, the long-running Turkish satirical magazine that’s been poking fun at power for over 30 years. On the left of the image is a bearded man wearing a taqiyah – a Muslim skullcap – who introduces himself as Muhammed. On the right, a man in a top hat, resembling the traditional attire of Haredi Jews, says he’s Musa. Both have wings and are shown hovering above burning buildings and flying rockets.
According to LeMan, the character of Muhammed “is fictionalised as a Muslim killed in Israel’s bombardments”. A statement on X said ([link removed]) : “This cartoon is not a caricature of the Prophet Muhammed, PBUH [Peace Be Upon Him]... There are more than 200 million people named Muhammed in the Islamic world.”
Despite this clarification, backlash at what has been perceived as a swipe at Islam has been swift and severe. On Monday, police raided ([link removed]) LeMan’s Istanbul office, which was surrounded by an angry crowd, and arrested staff. On Wednesday an Istanbul court ([link removed]) charged four team members with “publicly demeaning religious values” and ordered them detained pending trial. One of the four, cartoonist Doğan Pehlivan, was also accused of “insulting the president”. Two more LeMan employees are under investigation and appear to be outside the country. Authorities have also apparently banned the latest issue, ordered it pulled from newsstands and blocked access to LeMan’s website and social media accounts in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally condemned the cartoon, calling it “a vile
provocation.” ([link removed])
All of this over a cartoon. A cartoon that wasn’t even about the Prophet Muhammad. Even if it were, this response would still be indefensible. Religions can and should be open to critique or satire. Criticising belief systems is not the same as attacking believers.
As veteran Turkish journalist Can Dündar told me this week, “Like many autocrats, Erdoğan is intolerant of humour.” He fears the chilling effect this latest crackdown could have. “This may silence already-frightened humour magazines altogether.”
LeMan has long been a thorn in Erdoğan’s side, and there’s a chance this is being used as a pretext to shut them down. It’s also no coincidence this is happening in a country where Erdoğan has increasingly embraced religious conservatism – a shift our brilliant contributing editor Kaya Genç has documented over the years (see here ([link removed]) for example). But joining the dots doesn’t do anything for those who are now in jail for exercising their rights to artistic and media freedoms. We owe it to them to raise our voice and do what we can to get them out.
Jemimah Steinfeld
CEO, Index on Censorship
** More from Index
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From the USA to Algeria: The week in free expression ([link removed])
A round-up of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days ([link removed])
Turkish arrest warrant against Nedim Türfent condemned ([link removed])
Index and others sound alarm over extradition threat facing the Kurdish writer, journalist and poet ([link removed])
Budapest Pride proved that freedom and love cannot be banned ([link removed])
Expressing yourself peacefully should be a right, not a privilege ([link removed])
The fog of war lifts in Iran ([link removed])
Human rights violations have increased, with more than 700 citizens arrested ([link removed])
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** Land of the free? Magazine launch and panel discussion
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Donald Trump’s campaign against free expression is sending shockwaves across the USA and beyond. What does this mean for democracy, independent journalism, and the right to speak out?
Join us on Tuesday 5 August at St. John’s Waterloo for the launch of our latest magazine issue, Land of the Free?
REGISTER ([link removed])
** From the USA to Algeria: The week in free expression ([link removed])
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** >> USA: ([link removed]) USAID forced to close after six decades ([link removed])
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** >> ALGERIA: ([link removed]) French football journalist sentenced to seven years in jail ([link removed])
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** >> CHINA: ([link removed]) Women arrested for writing gay erotica ([link removed])
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** >> INDIA: ([link removed]) Tech hub state pushes jail terms for 'fake news' ([link removed])
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** >> UK: ([link removed]) Transgender-related books banned in children's library sections in Kent ([link removed])
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** >> GAZA: ([link removed]) Israeli strike kills journalist Ismail Abu Hatab ([link removed])
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** >> HEALTH: ([link removed]) Report outlines the scale of censorship of women’s health content ([link removed])
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** Flashback
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Rebel with a cause: An interview with China’s most famous political cartoonist ([link removed])
by Jemimah Steinfeld ([link removed])
Volume 45, Issue 2 ([link removed])
“I kept on reading, observing and reflecting on China’s political and social problems. Then in that year [2009] I suddenly felt a strong need to express my ideas. Comics is what I am good at, so I began to create political comics.”
As several people were detained this week in Turkey in relation to the publication of a political cartoon, we look back to an interview China’s most famous political cartoonist, Rebel Pepper.[link removed] the story here. ([link removed])
** Support our work
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The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as Turkey, Hungary and Iran has never been more important.
By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.
Please donate today ([link removed])
Photos by: (The cartoon by LeMan which caused the uproar) LeMan; (Cartoonist Rebel Pepper taking on Xi Jinping) Rebel Pepper
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