Four employees of a Turkish satirical magazine have been arrested over a cartoon that appears to show the Prophet Muhammad — a sacred religious figure whose depiction is forbidden in Islam.

Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, condemned the cartoon published by LeMan magazine as “shameless”, announcing that its editor-in-chief, graphic designer, institutional director and cartoonist had been detained.

In a post on X, LeMan denied that the cartoon was a caricature of the Prophet, stating: “The work does not refer to the Prophet Muhammed in any way.”

On Monday, hundreds of people gathered outside LeMan’s offices in Istanbul chanting slogans such as “tooth for tooth, blood for blood, revenge, revenge”. Riot police were deployed and a correspondent from AFP reported that rubber bullets and tear gas were used to disperse the crowd.

Turkey’s minister of justice said an investigation had been launched by the chief public prosecutor’s office for “publicly insulting religious values”.

“The caricature or any form of visual representation of our Prophet not only harms our religious values but also damages societal peace,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç wrote on X. “Necessary legal steps will be taken without delay.”

Yerlikaya also shared videos of the four LeMan employees being arrested over the “vile drawing”. Arrest warrants have also been issued for other senior members of the magazine’s management.

Images of the cartoon circulating on social media show two characters with wings floating above a city under siege. One says, “Peace be upon you, I’m Muhammed”, and the other replies, “Peace be upon you, I’m Musa”.

LeMan issued a statement apologising to “well-intentioned readers who feel hurt” but defended the cartoon and denied it depicted Muhammad.

“The cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel, and he never intended to insult religious values,” it stated.

“We do not accept the stain that is cast on us because there is no depiction of our Prophet. You have to be very malicious to interpret the cartoon in this way.”

Tuncay Akgun, LeMan’s editor-in-chief who is currently in Paris, told AFP the work had been misinterpreted and insisted the magazine would “never take such a risk”.

He said the backlash draws “similarities with Charlie Hebdo” which is “very intentional and very worrying”, referencing the 2015 attack on the French satirical magazine after it published a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

Charlie Hebdo’s offices were stormed by gunmen who killed 12 people in one of the worst terror attacks in France’s history.

Follow us on: