An Ankara court has ruled for the arrest of A.Ş., A.K. and N.K. for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on social media, according to the Diken news portal.
Four suspects were earlier detained by Ankara police for insulting Erdoğan and referred to court for arrest.
While three of them were arrested on charges of insult, of opposing the anti-terror law and of spreading hatred, M.Y. was released under judicial supervision.
Insulting the president is subject to criminal charges under Turkish law, and President Erdoğan has sued critics, including regular citizens, in unprecedented numbers for allegedly insulting him.
The Ministry of Interior Affairs announced over the past months that 10,000 people are currently under investigation on suspicion of terrorist propaganda and insulting senior state officials on social media.
The ministry also stated that in the last six months 3,710 social media users were investigated, of whom 1,656 were arrested. A total of 1,203 of those investigations resulted in releases on probation.
The ministry further said that cooperation with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and national and international service providers has been carried to the next level.
Suay Karaman, an academic at the Ankara-based Gazi University and the general secretary of the Association of Academic Staff (TÜMÖD), was last week sentenced to 11 months, 20 days in prison for his alleged insult of Erdoğan.
With new state of emergency decrees issued by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government last month, police were given the authority to directly access information on the identity of Internet users. (Turkey Purge)
