Case dropped against man wearing hajj clothes

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

An Istanbul prosecutor’s office has ruled for nonsuit in a defamation case against a person who had attempted to make the “Hajj pilgrimage” at the replica Mecca in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district this past April. 

Yakup Öksüz, who works at the Üsküdar Municipality, filed a complaint against Cihat Duman, the man who had broke news with his traditional Islamic cloth and goal of making the holy pilgrimage at the replica, for allegedly insulting him. 

Istanbul’s Anatolian chief public prosecutor decided for a nonsuit in the case on grounds that there was no evidence the suspect had committed defamation. Öksüz had said in his testimony that even though Duman had not insulted him, he had complained on grounds that Duman’s attempt could have been an act of provocation. 

“I am a performance artist. The police usurped my right to travel and discriminated against me for what I wear,” Duman said in a series of tweets in April after he was detained while wearing the Hajj clothing in Üsküdar, while also sharing his photo in his clothing.