Jailed British Artist Moved to Police Custody

Michael Dickinson, an Istanbul based satirical collage artist who was arrested on September 12 due to a controversial poster in which he superimposed the head of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on to the body of a dog, has been transferred to police custody from prison with no formal explanation.

Dickinson, a British national living in Turkey and also a former lecturer at the Istanbul Yeditepe University, told bianet on the telephone that he was being held at the Zeytinburnu Police Directorate Department for Foreigners after being moved there three days ago.

He said he was not informed of the reason for the transfer from Umraniye prison but was concerned of a possible attempt to deport him to the United Kingdom. "But I don't reside in Britain" he reacted. "I live in Turkey. Why should they want to send me to Britain?"

"I am in a terrible state" Dickinson told bianet, confirming a statement made by the Initiative Against the Crime of Thought (DSKG) which said the artist had been held in a cell at prison for three days before being taken to the police as a "guest" and described his condition as "sleepless, hungry and tired".

The Initiative, which previously announced they would monitor Dickinson's case, said no explanation was made on what authority and under which status the artist was being held at the Zeytinburnu Police Directorate.

According to the Initiative's spokesman Sanar Yurdatapan, because there was no formal arrest or detention procedure or request, the defense counsel assigned to Dickinson could not intervene.

"Now we have a very grave situation" Yurdatapan explained. "A person is neither under arrest nor under detention. So under which rights is he then denied his freedom? The explanation of this situation under law can only be 'kidnap or holding someone against their will' and both are offences. What there is, is a chain of crimes committed by the police forces".

Dickinson's trip behind the bars

The Dickinson controversy started when police in Istanbul seized his Best in Show collage poster displayed at the Global Peace and Justice Coalition (Kuresel BAK) exhibition on March 11.

In this collage, published at his own internet site under the title "Bush's Dog", he superimposed the head of PM Erdogan on to the body of a canine that appeared to have its bowtie type collar being prepared by President Bush.

The exhibition's organizers Ertan Kara, Gulen Sahin, Mehmet Demir, Filiz Ulget and Burak Delier were initially detained. A prosecutor then decided that non of the suspects other than Kara himself had responsibility for the poster.

On April 5, the prosecutor's office charged Kara under article 125/3-a of the Turkish Penal Code. Namely, for "insulting the dignity of the Prime Minister". His latest case was listed for September 12 at an Istanbul court.

However, Dickinson himself then petitioned to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Kadikoy claiming full responsibility for the collage and saying "if there is an offence, it should be me put on trial rather than Kara".

On July 11, the prosecution rejected Dickinson's request saying, "you do not have good intentions. Although there was no case, as if there was an investigation against you, you mobilized some civil society organizations and led to publications being made against our country. You are not trying to bring the issue to light but to use the incident as an instrument of propaganda against our country".

Dickinson, whose Tripod web site was banned without warning or appeal last year, had already rebuffed not being prosecuted in a June 19 dated new collage showing President Bush in military uniform playing a flute and PM Erdogan's head planted on a growling dog sitting at his feet. "Man's Best Friend" was the title of this collage and the satirist added in explanation "Since I haven't yet been officially charged, I thought I'd exercise what freedom I have left to express myself in this collage on a similar theme".

While no charges were leveled against Dickinson for the previous posters already online on his new web site, a third one he appeared to exhibit in front of cameras at the Kadikoy 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance in protest of Kara's trial on September 12 saw him behind the bars.

Dickinson was promptly placed under arrest for "insulting senior state officials" during Kuresel BAK organizer Kara's's hearing by displaying the poster publicly, taken to the Kadikoy police station, then to hospital for medical checkup and from there to the Umraniye Prison.

Dickinson's new poster showed Erdogan's head planted on a dog where a missile was placed up its tail. A collar, made out of the American flag decorated the dog while US dollar bills filled the ground as well as the dog's mouth. "We won't be Bush's dog" read a piece of paper on the dogs back while in front of it was stacks of 20 Turkish Lira notes. A cracked up world image showed in the background. (EO/KO/II/YE)