Mustafa Yayla, a newspaper journalist in Aydın province, has been sent to jail for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish media reported on Sunday.
A prosecutor launched an investigation into Yayla for a social media post allegedly insulting the Turkish president three years ago after a citizen notified the police.
Last year a local court sentenced him to 11 months, 20 days’ imprisonment.
Yayla appealed the ruling at a regional appeals court, which upheld the sentence.
Yayla, who got married 20 days ago, was apprehended by the police at a security checkpoint and was handed over to prison authorities due to the court ruling.
Insulting the president calls for a sentence of between one and four years, according to the Turkish Penal Code.
Hundreds of people in Turkey, even high school students, face charges of insulting President Erdoğan.
The slightest criticism is considered insult, and there has been a rise in the number of cases in which people inform on others claiming that they insulted the president, the government or government officials. (turkishminute.com)
