Good Boy by Micheal Dickinson
I first reported on British ex-pat in Istanbul, Michael Dickinson, in September of 2008. At that time he had just been acquitted for violating Article 301 of the Turkish constitution, which makes it a
crime to insult the "Turkish identity" or state institutions, including
the armed forces, through his collages of the Turkish Prime Minister as a dog (above). I had no idea that the Turkish legal system then quashed that ruling and brought Dickinson to trial again. Now, he has been convicted of this charge and is refusing to pay the fine in protest of the attack on his freedom of speech. The judge has given him one month to reconsider his decision or face up to two years in a Turkish prison. Unbelievable. Read more at BBC News and Dickinson's website.
Art matters.
