Facebook under fire in Turkey over murder site video

BALIKESİR

Facebook has come under fire in Turkey for not removing a video broadcast on the platform by a 26-year-old man showing the scene after he killed three people.

The incident occurred after the man, Ali Saral, went to ask for a local woman’s hand in marriage with his family in the Havran district of the western province of Balıkesir on the night of Feb. 19.

After a dispute between two families, the Saral family left the home. However, he later came back to the site with a hunting rifle, with which he killed three people and injured four others, including a two-year-old boy.

Before leaving the site, he recorded it on his cell phone and shared it on Facebook, which did not remove the video for 14 hours.

The video was shared more than 100 times and watched by 30,000 people until it was removed at 12.00 on Feb. 20.

Witnesses said Saral used his rifle to break the windows and doors in order to storm into the house.

Two-year-old Yasin Çetinkaya was rushed to hospital and his condition is reported to be critical.

Saral was captured by gendarmerie forces on Feb. 20.