An Istanbul court on Tuesday acquitted a popular Turkish rapper who faced up to 10 years in jail on charges of encouraging drug use, activists and lawyers said, on the first day of a trial that had sparked widespread alarm.
Ezhel, 28, whose real name is Omer Sercan Ipekcioglu, was accused of inciting drug use through social-media postings as well as song lyrics.
He was arrested late last month in Istanbul by anti-narcotics police and his case was seen by rights groups as an example of declining freedom of expression under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The judge ruled that Ezhel had not committed any crime intentionally and ordered him to be acquitted and released immediately. He was due to walk free from the prison, where he has been held the last three weeks, in the next few hours.
"We got an acquittal. We can say that justice has been done," the Media and Law Studies Association freedom of speech group, which has followed the case, quoted his lawyer Fuat Ekin as saying.
Reports said that he was acquitted within just nine minutes of the trial opening.
The Ankara-born songwriter caught public attention with the release of his debut album Muptezhel last year. His music carries the influence of stars such as Eminem and 50 Cent.
His songs have been viewed millions of times online.
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Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
EMIRATES'S REVISED A350 DEPLOYMENT SCHEDULE
Edinburgh: November 4 (unchanged)
Bahrain: November 15 (from September 15); second daily service from January 1
Kuwait: November 15 (from September 16)
Mumbai: January 1 (from October 27)
Ahmedabad: January 1 (from October 27)
Colombo: January 2 (from January 1)
Muscat: March 1 (from December 1)
Lyon: March 1 (from December 1)
Bologna: March 1 (from December 1)
Source: Emirates
The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
