31.10 – Turkey: censorship threat to news website Bianet
(GIF) Lawyers acting for creationist religious leader Adnan Oktar asked the Turkish news website Bianet (www.bianet.org) on 28 October to remove an article about online censorship that was written by two specialists in Internet law, Yaman Akdeniz and Kerem Altiparmak.
‘Oktar now holds the record for suing websites that mention his name,’ Reporters Without Borders. ‘He has already brought 62 lawsuits. We support Bianet’s efforts to resist this absurd censorship.’
Posted on 20 October and entitled ‘Adnan Hodja against the Internet: all the bans contrary to the law,’ the article criticised the legal procedures used against websites and the arbitrary way some of them, especially those sued by Oktar, have been closed. ‘Adnan Hodja’ is one of the names used by Oktar. Akdeniz teaches Internet law at Leeds University, in Britain. Altiparmak teaches law at Ankara University’s political science faculty.