The British Guardian reported on the 11th that a Turkish court sentenced a missionary to 1075 in prison for sexual assault and other charges.
Turkish police said that the missionary used religious beliefs and people’s feelings to commit fraud, commit many crimes, and even be suspected of spying and subversion of state power.
He and his gang will face severe punishment.
The sentenced missionary, Adnan Oktar, 64 years old, is nominally an Islamic preacher, but extremely weird in his mind and entangled in huge religious groups, essentially engaged in cult propagation and organized crime, the website Middle East Online reported.
In mid-July 2018, the Turkish Attorney General’s Office signed an arrest warrant for Oktar and his 236 associates, and the police arrested 165 Oktar and his associates in Istanbul and other places.
During the search, Octar tried to escape under the protection of bodyguards, but was subdued by the police, who also seized a large number of secret weapons and bulletproof vests in his luxury villa.
After more than two years of investigation, the court finally confirmed that Oktar had committed organized crime, sexual assault, sexual abuse of minors, illegal detention, fraud, forgery of documents and “attempted political and military espionage”, and invoked a series of laws and regulations, and finally sentenced him to 1075 in prison.
According to Russian NTV, Oktar claimed to be the leader of the Islamic sect. He has long been famous in the religious world for opposing evolution and advocating theocratic politics, but it is also controversial.
In 1986, Octar was arrested on suspicion of “using religion, religious emotions and religious holy places to partially change the social, economic and political structure of the country” and was finally acquitted by the court.
He was arrested again in 1999 on suspicion of intimidation.
After two years of detention, the court found him insane and released him. Turkey’s mainstream religious leaders often condemn Oktar’s words and deeds, but the latter is good at using money and the media to build momentum for themselves.
Octar wrote a 770-page “Create Atlas” under his pseudonym to promote his creationism, and also wrote more than 300 pamphlets on politics and religion, which were translated into 76 languages.
In addition to owning his own foundation, he also founded A9 TV in 2011 to broadcast religious programs, which further increased his popularity. Oktar is also believed to be closely related to the opposition religious figure Fatulah Gülen in exile in the United States.
Turkish authorities accused the latter of planning an attempted coup in 2016.
According to The Guardian, the use of religion for sexual crimes is particularly serious. His sectarian gangs have been involved in sex scandals on many occasions. It is said that he promotes sexual slavery in the sect and encourages promiscuity and group sex.
Not only that, but he also made public his controversial lifestyle without hesitation. Some people believe that Octar’s chaotic private life is comparable to Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine in the United States.
On his TV program, Octar was surrounded by a large number of young women who had undergone cosmetic surgery, and talked proudly and covered everything. He also called the women around him “kittens”.
From time to time, there are gorgeous dance performances in his program. The actors are exposed, scratch their heads, and their dancing postures are almost obscene. As a result, the Turkish Radio and Television Commission has received a large number of complaints from the public.
According to the Turkish daily Sabah, in the Oktar case, a large number of sexual crimes charges were directed at the high-profile and weird “denominational leader”, and his self-defense was ironic.
In last year’s trial, Octar admitted that he had about 1,000 “girl companions”, but he defended himself because he “filled his heart with love for women” and claimed that it was a requirement of Islam.
During the trial, some female victims testified that Octar sexually assaulted themselves many times and forced them to take contraceptive pills. Police also found 69,000 contraceptive pills from the Oktar villa, which Oktar argued that these pills were “used to treat skin diseases and irregular menstruation”.
Witnesses also testified that Oktar brainwashed young men and women from rich families and dragged them into their own cult groups. In response, Oktar claimed that this was his so-called “contribution” to the promotion of Islamic religion.
According to The Guardian, Octar’s behavior has attracted continuous criticism from religious, secular and women’s rights organizations.
In particular, religious conservatives fiercely criticized that his controversial behavior damaged the reputation and social atmosphere of the church and “makes the outside world seriously misunderstand the teachings of Islam”.
Some people in the community said that the government should have long suppressed Octar and his gang, but for various reasons it has been delayed.
The controversial “television preacher” was not arrested and tried until now, and the social negative impact during this period was “incalculable”.
