Canadian jailed for insulting Turkish president is released
Woman’s lawyer files appeal after she was sentenced to two years and four months
A Canadian woman detained in Turkey has been found guilty of insulting the country’s president, but said she has been released from prison as her lawyer pursues an appeal of the case.
Ece Heper said she is happy to be out of prison, where she had been held since late December after being charged for comments she wrote about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on social media.
“I still haven’t processed this,” Heper told The Canadian Press in a brief interview Wednesday. “I need a break, but I’m OK.”
Heper, a dual Canadian-Turkish citizen, said she had been awake for more than two days after a whirlwind trial in the northeastern city of Kars followed by her release and a 10-hour drive to a friend’s place in southern Turkey.
Her lawyer, Sertac Celikkaleli, said Heper was sentenced to two years and four months but has been released from prison while an appeal is pursued, although she cannot leave the country. After the term of her sentence is up, Heper will be banished from Turkey, he said.
The lawyer noted that there is a possibility Heper could return to prison depending on the outcome of the appeal.
The Canadian government is providing consular assistance to Heper from its embassy in Ankara, according to Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Austin Jean.
Heper, 50, has been in Turkey since November and was charged on Dec. 30, according to Celikkaleli. She got into trouble over Facebook posts about Erdogan.
In one posted on Dec. 28, Heper accused the president of jailing journalists who suggest there is evidence Turkey is supporting Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Heper has a log home in Norwood, Ont., about 150 kilometres northeast of Toronto, according to her friend Birgitta Pavic, where she lives with five dogs she rescued from Turkey “that are like her children.”
Her parents are dead and she lost touch with her brother, Pavic said.