In Üçdağ v Turkey [2021] ECHR 716 [in French], the applicant, a public official working as an imam at a local mosque in the Sur district of Diyarbakır, had been convicted of disseminating propaganda in favour of a terrorist organisation on the basis of two posts published on his Facebook account, and his appeal to the Constitutional Court had been rejected as out of time [1].

The background

It had been alleged that Mr Üçdağ’s Facebook account carried propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (the PKK, an illegal armed organisation) so as to legitimise and encourage support for it [5]. In particular, he had shared a photo of two people, dressed like PKK members with weapons, standing in front of destroyed buildings and another one of a crowd demonstrating in a public street in front of a traffic light, accompanied by the comment “If our brothers and sisters in Sur are not at peace, we cannot be at rest. Everyone should share once to react. If there’s nothing you can do, at least let everyone know, please” [6]. Continue reading →