Controversial decision from the prosecutor's office regarding 'beating' and 'death' remarks for those who do not pray, as stated by Ebubekir Sifil and Halil Konakcı

The Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has reached a decision in the investigation conducted into theologian Ebubekir Sifil, who said "those who do not pray can be killed," and imam Halil Konakcı, who said "those who do not pray and do not fast can be beaten."

The prosecutor's office decided that there were "no grounds for prosecution" regarding Sifil and Konakcı.

Theologian Ebubekir Sifil had used the expression, "If a person is habitually neglecting prayer arbitrarily, they are punished. They are summoned and reprimanded. They are summoned and admonished. They are summoned and beaten. If they continue, they can be killed as a tazir (punishment at the discretion of a judge or state administrator)."

Halil Konakcı, the imam of Uluçınar Mosque in Istanbul's Pendik district, had said, "There is compulsion in religion. How is there? There is a legal penalty for not praying. It might not be applied now. There is a penalty in religion for not fasting. There is beating. This means there is compulsion."

Lawyers from the People's Liberation Party (HKP) and lawyers Nazan Bozkurt, Saim Rüştü Anlatıcı, Seda Baydere, and Tülay Bekar filed a criminal complaint against theologian Ebubekir Sifil and imam Halil Konakcı for the crime of "publicly inciting the people to hatred and hostility" under the Turkish Penal Code.

According to the report by Mehmet Oflaz from Anka; the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Bureau of Investigation into Crimes by Public Officials processed the lawyers' criminal complaints and launched an investigation. As a result of the investigation, it was decided that there were "no grounds for prosecution" regarding Sifil and Konakcı.

"DID NOT ACT WITH THE INTENT TO INCITE OR HUMILIATE"

The decision stated, "In the scope of the investigation and in light of the collected evidence; it is understood that the speech subject to the investigation file was transcribed in its entirety by an expert, and upon examination and evaluation of the content of the speech as a whole, and in the statement taken from suspect Halil Konakcı on June 14, 2023, he declared that the speech made on his personal Twitter account was taken from content mentioned in a novel by an author named Laurie Penny, that he evaluated this book within the framework of his own beliefs and explained his ideas, that he was trying to explain the concept of hijab within the framework of Islamic rules, and that he did not act with the intent to target, incite, or humiliate any group."

In the prosecutor's decision, it was stated, "In the incident subject to the investigation, it was concluded and believed that the material and moral elements listed in Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code were not formed, and it was decided that there were no grounds for prosecution regarding the suspects."

Here is that decision: