From The Hurriyet Daily News,
The Istanbul chief public prosecutor's office charged cartoonist Bahadır Baruter with "insulting the religious values adopted by a part of the population" and requested his imprisonment for up to one year.
Shit? A year in jail for insulting religion? What the hell did he do, draw Allah?
Baruter's caricature depicted an imam and believers praying in a mosque. One of the characters is talking to God on his cellphone and asking to be pardoned from the last part of the prayer because he has errands to run.
Sounds like rather decent commentary so far, trying to make the point of how in a connected civilization, sometimes we should slow down, break the connection, and...
Wait? He what?!
Within the wall decorations of the mosque, Baruter hid the words, "There is no Allah, religion is a lie." The cartoon was published in the weekly "Penguen" humor magazine.
Damn sneaky cartoonists. Next you'll be telling me Peanuts was Christian propaganda.
Here's the cartoon if you want to see it for yourselves. The red circled part is the hidden message.
This cartoonist is facing a year in jail for that little hidden message. For words.
As much as I complain about the United States, sometimes I forget actually how good I have it. I'm free sit here at a desk and yell/type "There is no Allah! Religion is a lie!" without fear of the police showing up to drag me away.
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