YouTuber Diamond Tema is facing potential imprisonment following a heated debate with another social media figure who supports the Sharia law that has drawn widespread attention.
Tema, 30, is under investigation for "insulting religious values adopted by a section of the public" and "inciting hatred and hostility among the public" through his comments.
During the debate, Tema made remarks about the Prophet Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, suggesting that "the only system in the world where a man can marry a 6-year-old girl is Sharia." These comments were perceived as insulting and have led to significant backlash from pro-government and Islamist social media users.
Tema, an ethnic Albanian, fled to Albania due to the social media lynching he faced.
Upon his departure, the authorities issued an arrest warrant against him, Justice Minister Yılmz Tunç announced on Tuesday. He described Tema’s remarks as "provocative, ugly, and incendiary expressions related to the religion of Islam and our beloved Prophet.”
Tema previously said he planned to return to Turkey after the situation had calmed down. He expressed his unwillingness to be arrested and become a spectacle on the internet at a time when there were calls for his death and imprisonment online. “I don’t want my photographs with a handcuff shared on social media. I don’t want to make them happy,” he wrote.
The debate, which aired on YouTube on June 14 and has been viewed over 2.2 million times, was widely discussed on social media platforms, with a general consensus that Tema had won the argument. Asrın Tok, the other participant in the debate, found the investigation against Tema to be "pointless.”
(HA/VK)
