Turkish prosecutor demands jail term for actress over 'insulting' former sergeant convicted of rape

Duvar English

Turkish actress Farah Zeynep Abdullah became the subject of another lawsuit for a tweet she wrote in 2023 regarding Musa Orhan, former sergeant who was convicted of sexually assaulting a young Kurdish woman and causing her death. Abdullah faces up to two years and four months in prison.

A Turkish court previously imposed an administrative fine of 1,300 liras on actress Farah Zeynep Abdullah on charges of “insulting” Orhan. At the time, Abdullah tweeted in support of another actress Ezgi Mola who was also found guilty of “insulting” Orhan on social media. 

While the first trial of actress Abdullah was ongoing, Orhan's lawyer Mehmet Akkuş filed a lawsuit against Farah Zeynep Abdullah, demanding a compensation to be paid.

Upon the compensation lawsuit, Orhan’s lawyer once again filed a criminal complaint against Abdullah on the grounds that she wrote, “Musa Orhan, who is dishonorable and apparently uses the justice system as a means of earning a living, or rather is allowed to do so, has now filed a compensation lawsuit against me. The hungry dog,” the Demirören News Agency reported.

Following the investigation, the prosecutor’s office prepared an indictment regarding the second tweet. In the indictment, actress Abdullah said that she had an ongoing case with Orhan and that he saw "insult" cases as a way of making a living. 

She also stated she got angry and shared the post out of anger for the purpose of reaction, that this reaction was just a human reaction and that she later regretted it.

The prosecutor who prepared the indictment requested a prison sentence of up to two years and four months for Farah Zeynep Abdullah on charges of “insulting through voice, written or video message.” 

What had happened?

Orhan was arrested on Aug. 19, 2020 following public outrage over 18-year-old Kurdish woman İpek Er's death. In a suicide note she left on July 16, 2020, Er wrote that she had been kidnapped and raped by Orhan for 20 days. She later lost her life in the hospital in August after she shot herself.

Despite the grave accusations, Orhan was released in less than a week on Aug. 25, 2020, with several people pointing to the hypocrisy of the judicial-making processes.

Another Turkish actress Ezgi Mola was also sentenced to pay a fine of 6,960 liras for “insulting” Orhan. 

In December 2021, Orhan was sentenced to 10 years in prison but he was still not jailed. The court merely imposed judicial control on him and banned him from leaving the country, which caused another public uproar at the time.