/data/photo/2021/01/12/5ffcf7457b72a.jpg "Turkiye preacher Harun Yahya sentenced to 8,658 years in prison")
KOMPAS. com – The court in Istanbul, Turkiye sentenced the speaker Adnan Oktar alias Harun Yaya an 8,658-year prison sentence for crimes ranging from sexual harassment to extortion, money laundering and espionage.
A retrial, Wednesday (11/16/2022) overturned the verdict of the trial earlier this year on procedural grounds.
Previously, Harun Yahya was sentenced to 1,075 years for the same crime. At the time he was on trial with 236 people suspected of being members or supporters of his network.
Read also: Who is Harun Yahya, a Turkish preacher sentenced to 1,075 years in prison?
Harun Yahya and 10 defendants were sentenced to 8,658 years
Quoted by the news agency Anadoluthe court also sentenced the other 10 defendants to 8,658 years’ imprisonment each.
Oktar or Harun Yahya, seen by critics as a cult leader, has become known for his shows on the online TV channel A9 and is often criticized by Turkish religious leaders.
In a massive crackdown by his group, he was arrested in Istanbul in 2018 as part of an investigation by the city’s police financial crimes unit.
While appearing on television, he was constantly surrounded by young women he called “kittens,” who professed their love for him and often wore revealing clothing when voicing his opinions on religious and political matters.
The crimes of Harun Yahya
Oktar was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of various charges, such as founding and leading a criminal organization, political or military espionage, and aiding the terrorist organization Gulenist Terror Group (FETO).
He was also convicted of child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, deprivation of liberty, torture, interference with the right to education, recording personal data and making threats.
Prosecutors said his gang had been involved in a recruitment scheme since the late 1990s, which involved brainwashing young women.
“The organization uses its beautiful members to trick girls and young women. Members rape or sexually harass women and are preemptively blackmailed by members into pretending their intimate relationships are videotaped. They are also brainwashed with the pretext of religious teachings, the prosecutor said in the indictment.
Quoted from kompas.comusing the pseudonym Harun Yahya, Adnan Oktar began gaining popularity as the leader of a small religious group at Istanbul University in the 1980s.
Oktar tried to attract the attention of the wealthy and influential youth of Istanbul, bearing the name of Islam.
According to Hurriyet Daily News, Adnan Oktar’s actions are documented in a book titled The Mahdi Wears Armani: An Analysis of The Harun Yahya Enterprise written by Anne Ross Solberg and published by Sodertorn University in Sweden.
Oktar is increasingly popular after expressing anti-Jewish, anti-Masonic, anti-Communist sentiments and a number of other conspiracy theories.
At its peak, in 1987, Oktar, under the name Harun Yahya, published a 550-page book called Judaism and Freemasonry.
The book contains Oktar’s argument that Jews and Freemasons have managed to infiltrate Turkish state institutions and in an attempt to degrade the morals, spirituality and religiosity of Turkish citizens.
The book was a bestseller, printed nearly 100,000 times. However, not long after the book was published, Oktar was arrested by the Turkish government on charges of campaigning for theocratic revolution.
He spent 19 months in prison, including 10 months in a psychiatric hospital because the diagnosis showed Adnan Oktar had obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and schizophrenia.
Read also: Harun Yahya, from sexual assault, kittens, to fraud cases
English Harun Yahya Youtube screenshot showing Harun Yahya with kittensRegarded as Imam Mahdi
However, after Oktar’s release, the group he founded continued to grow, and in 1990 he founded the “Science Research Foundation” (BAV).
Not only deployed as a leader, many people in Oktar’s inner circle seem to believe he is Imam Mahdi, the Savior figure in Islam who is prophesied to rule the world before doomsday and rid the world of evil.
When Oktar shifted his focus from Turkey to international markets in the 2000s, the issues he faced changed too.
He was explicitly anti-Jewish and considered himself an anti-Darwinist. Oktar regularly gives his lectures through telecasts on his personal channel, A9 TV.
In 2007, Oktar published an 800-page book called The Atlas of Creation, which categorically rejects Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Voluntarily, he sent the 6 kg book to the United Nations, the US Congress and biology departments of universities around the world.
Have 1,000 girlfriends
As reported by the Daily Sabah, in his latest defense at Monday’s trial, Oktar categorically denied any wrongdoing against him.
He has denied allegations of sexual misconduct, stating that he has “nearly 1,000 girlfriends” and admits to having an “overwhelming love for women.”
One of the women at her trial, identified only as CC, told the court that Oktar had repeatedly sexually assaulted her and other women.
CC told the court that some raped women were forced to take contraceptive pills.
When asked about the 69,000 contraceptive pills found in her home by police, Oktar said the pills were used to treat skin disorders and menstrual disorders.
He also denies allegations that he runs a criminal organization and claims he has only a few friends.
On his association with FETÖ and the allegations of espionage, Oktar claimed that there was a conspiracy against him carried out by “certain forces”.
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