Turkey Arrests Cartoonist for Drawing Moses and Mohammed – Updated
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The cartoon shows a bearded man wearing a top hat resembling that of Haredi Jews saying “I’m Musa” as he shakes hands with another bearded man wearing a taqiyah—a Muslim headcover—who replies: “I’m Mohammed.” Both have wings and are depicted as hovering over burning buildings and rockets.
From the Jewish News Service (which shows the cartoon):
(July 1, 2025 / JNS)
Police in Turkey detained four cartoonists on Monday in connection with the publication of a caricature they interpreted as depicting Moses and Mohammed fraternizing in heaven as Jews and Muslims fight below them.
The detention of the cartoonists, who are affiliated with the LeMan satirical magazine, followed the gathering of angry protesters outside the publication’s headquarters, CNN reported.
The decision to publish the caricature was also unusual, Cohen Yanarocak said, as “cartoonists and other visual artists in Turkey generally know not to cross the invisible line” of depicting the Muslim prophet.
LeMan, a weekly political satire magazine, claimed the person titled Mohammed was not meant to represent the prophet but a generic Muslim man bearing his name who had been killed by Israel.
Police in Turkiye have detained four people over a cartoon published by the satirical magazine LeMan, which critics say appeared to depict Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Moses shaking hands in the sky as missiles fell below in a war-like scene – a claim the magazine denies.
The cartoon, published last week, triggered a backlash from government officials and religious groups in Turkiye. On Tuesday, the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office announced a formal investigation under charges of “openly insulting religious values”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the magazine, describing it as “a vile provocation”.
“It is a clear provocation disguised as humour, a vile provocation,” he said, also denouncing it as a “hate crime”, confirming authorities had taken over LeMan magazine and were taking legal action against it.
Clashes erupted in Istanbul with police firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a mob on Monday after allegations that a satirical magazine had published a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.
The clashes occurred after Istanbul’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of the editors at LeMan magazine on grounds it had published a cartoon that “publicly insulted religious values”.
The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, said the image had been misinterpreted.
“This cartoon is not a caricature of prophet Muhammad in any way,” he told Agence France-Presse. “In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in the bombardments of Israel is fictionalised as Muhammad. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Muhammad.
CARTOONISTS RIGHTS objects to the warrants issued and arrests of LeMan magazine staffers made yesterday and the way they were shown on social media; refutes the interventions of the Interior Minister, the Justice Minister, and Istanbul’s governor; and condemns the violence that ensued on the streets of the city. We agree with editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgün: cartoonists must be permitted to use the most commonly-given name in the world without being accused of insulting religious sensibilities. And especially when their work is clearly in opposition to the indiscriminate killing of Muslims!
- Summary
- Cartoon depicts prophets Mohammad, Moses in satirical magazine
- Leman magazine apologises, claims misunderstanding
- Civil groups condemn arrests of 4 cartoonists
- Protests break out in Istanbul despite ban
July 3, 2025 Update from Bianet:
This statement was originally published on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) website on Jul 2, 2025.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Cartooning for Peace, and Cartoonists Rights condemn the violence and arrests targeting the opposition satirical magazine LeMan in Istanbul. The editorial offices were attacked by a dozen individuals following the publication of a caricature purportedly of the Prophet Muhammad. Four members of the magazine’s staff, including the cartoonist who created the illustration in question, were arrested, with a total of six arrest warrants issued. The organizations call on the authorities to release the journalists and the cartoonist, and to ensure the safety of the entire editorial team under threat.
This is a new attack on press freedom in Turkey. While the country ranks 159th in the World Press Freedom Index and journalists are regularly obstructed, the editorial staff of the satirical magazine LeMan is now being targeted.
Following the publication of a caricature, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation on 30 June against several members of the team for “denigrating religious values.” The cartoonist Dogan Pehlivan, who created the cartoon at issue, identified by the initials D.P., the editor-in-chief Zafer Aknar, the graphic designer Cebrail Okcu, and the editorial director, Ali Yavuz, were brutally arrested the same day. Tuncay Akgün, co-founder and former editor-in-chief of LeMan, and Aslan Ozdemir, editor-in-chief, both currently abroad, are also targeted in the arrest warrant.
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