Lawyer detained at dawn on claims of insulting Prophet
ISTANBUL
Canan Arın. Hürriyet photo
Canan Arın, a lawyer and women's rights advocate, was detained at a hotel she was staying at in the southeastern province of Gaziantep yesterday on charges of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a 2011 speech.Arın, who is also the founder of the Mor Çatı (Purple Roof) Women’s Shelter Foundation, was detained by police officers at her hotel room at around 5:30 a.m. on claims that she insulted Prophet Muhammad in a speech she made in 2011, Burcu Karakaş of daily Milliyet reported.
Arın was released after being questioned by a prosecutor regarding the speech she made on Dec. 4, 2011, during a forum titled "Domain Over the Female Body and Sex Crimes."
A group of lawyers under the "Superiority of Law" platform filed a complaint against Arın, saying she insulted the Prophet over his marriages.
Arın was detained on grounds that she failed to testify regarding the complaint filed against her, which resulted in a detention order being issued against her. Arın rejected the claims, saying she received no official summons to testify.
'Against human rights'
The head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, Mehmet Emin Aktar, said dawn raids to detain people were an arbitrary practice and violated human rights.
"The detention order was given in order take her [Arın's] testimony. This practice is not a right course of action regarding people with known addresses. It is an arbitrary practice of the police,” he said.
Lawyer Aydeniz Alisbah Tuskan from the Istanbul Bar said she thought Arın’s detention was in violation of law and was a "scare tactic."
