Turkish Televangelist Sentenced to 8,658 Years in Jail

A Muslim televangelist in Turkey has been sentenced to 8,658 years in jail in a retrial after his original sentence was overturned. Adnan Oktar had initially been sentenced by a lower court to 1,075 years in prison. The flamboyant preacher was charged with directing a terrorist organization, sexual abuse, depriving someone of their liberty, blackmail, money laundering, and espionage. Oktar has been accused of running a sex cult, and he broadcast his online television talk show surrounded by heavily made-up young women wearing revealing clothing and declaring their devotion to him as he preached creationism and conservative values. Several of those women have said that Oktar sexually assaulted them and that he forced them to take contraceptive pills; some 69,000 contraceptive pills were found by police on his properties at the time of his arrest. Among the books he published under the pen name Harun Yahya were those featuring antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial, including the 1996 book titled “The Holocaust Lie.” He later renounced those books. The court also sentenced 10 other suspects to 8,658 years in prison each, the Anadolu news agency reported.