Police in Turkey detain satirical magazine employees over Prophet Muhammad cartoon controversy

Police in Turkey detained three more employees of a satirical magazine on Tuesday, raising the number of people taken into custody over a cartoon that allegedly depicted the Prophet Muhammad to four.

The cartoon, published in LeMan magazine, drew a string of condemnation from government officials who stated it represented the Prophet Muhammad and sparked an angry protest outside the magazine’s Istanbul office.

LeMan, in a statement late Monday, denied the allegations and insisted the drawing was intended to portray a Muslim man named Muhammad and was meant to highlight the suffering of Muslims.

The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said the cartoon showed “two figures alleged to be Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Moses — with wings and halos — shaking hands in the sky, while a war scene unfolds below with bombs raining down.”

The independent Birgun newspaper also said the winged figures hovering in the sky were interpreted by some as Prophets Muhammad and Moses.

Authorities on Monday launched an investigation into the weekly magazine over accusations of “publicly insulting religious values” and detained the cartoonist, Dogan Pehlevan, from his home.

Overnight, LeMan’s Editor-in-Chief Zafer Aknar, graphic designer Cebrail Okcu and manager Ali Yavuz were also detained, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Detention warrants were also issued for two editors who are believed to be abroad, the report said.

Late on Monday, demonstrators, reportedly belonging to an Islamic group, hurled rocks at LeMan’s headquarters in central Istanbul and scuffled with police.

The publication apologized for any offense caused, but it also called on authorities to act against what it described as a smear campaign and to protect freedom of expression.

Separate videos of the arrests, shared by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, showed Pehlevan and Yavuz being forcibly taken from their homes, their hands being cuffed behind their backs.

“These shameless people will be held accountable before the law,” Yerlikaya wrote on X.