Harun Yahya Sentenced To 1,075 Years Prison In Prison For Sexual And Conspiracy Offenses

Harun Yahya (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - A Turkish court sentenced Adnan Oktar alias Harun Yahya to 1,075 years in prison. The 64-year-old Muslim preacher was found guilty of sexual crimes.

Reported by The Guardian, Tuesday, January 12, the judge's decision stated that the victim of sexual harassment Harun Yahya was classified as a minor. Harun Yahya was also convicted of fraud and attempts to spy on the government regarding political and military affairs.

Harun Yahya was arrested in June 2018, amid an investigation into alleged financial crimes he and his organization committed. The Harun Yahya trial involved the testimony of a number of victims who had experienced sexual harassment and abuse.

One of the victims with the initials CC testified that Harun Yahya was raped repeatedly. According to CC, she and many other women were forced to take contraceptive pills before they were raped.

The contraceptive pills are an important part of the evidence. The police found 69 thousand contraceptive pills at Harun Yahya's residence. He reasoned that the pills were used to treat skin disorders and menstruation.

Before the judge, Harun Yahya also said that he had a thousand lovers. Sacred reasons which he was really defiling.

"I devote a lot of love to women. Love is the quality of a human being. Love proves the quality of a Muslim," said Oktar in a hearing, October 2020.

Even so, Harun Yahya has denied a number of accusations in his conspiracy crimes. One of them, Harun Yahya denied having a relationship with Fethullah Gulen, a fugitive Muslim religious leader.

Fethullah Gulen is said to have masterminded the coup attempt by the Turkish government in 2016. Fethullah Gulen himself currently lives in the United States (US).

Regarding the Harun Yahya case, the Turkish legal authorities arrested 236 other suspects. They have gone on trial, with 78 of them detained.