Court convicts Turkish comedian of insulting president but orders release, broadcaster says

A Turkish ​court convicted comedian Deniz ​Goktas of insulting ‌President Tayyip ​Erdogan on Monday but ordered his release after almost three months ‌in custody, broadcaster NTV said. Goktas, 32, was jailed in early July pending trial after an investigation was opened ‌into remarks made during a stand-up performance in Istanbul ‌that included references to Erdogan, the Koran and jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

The performance quickly went viral online, attracting ⁠more than ​15 million ⁠views on YouTube and spreading widely across X, Instagram and other ⁠social media platforms. Goktas was sentenced to 11 months and ​20 days in prison for "insulting the president" ⁠and to seven months and 15 days for "publicly inciting hatred ⁠and ​enmity", NTV said. Convicts are generally freed on licence after serving a certain proportion of their ⁠sentence.

Goktas denied the charges. Dozens of supporters had gathered outside ⁠Istanbul's main ⁠Caglayan courthouse calling for his release.