An influencer has been given a five-month suspended sentence for posing alongside a giant penis sculpture in photos from Amsterdam’s Sex Museum that were deemed obscene by a Turkish court.
Merve Taskin, 23, who boasts 571,000 Instagram followers, made the risque social media posts while celebrating her birthday in the Dutch capital in January last year.
One of the offending images showed Ms Taskin astride a huge penis and in another she stood behind a glass door made to appear like that of a brothel in the city’s famous Red Light District.
She was arrested on ‘obscenity charges’ in the the Turkish city of Canakkale three months later and the images have since been purged from her Instagram.
According to Turkish law, people who publish ‘obscene’ material can receive a prison sentence of up to three years.
A court initially sentenced Ms Taskin to six months in prison. However, it was reduced to five months due to good conduct, and then later suspended.
The influencer posed with her lawyers outside the court on Friday for another Instagram snap.
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She wrote alongside the picture that her team had argued that the posts ‘are within the limits of freedom of expression’ and that the investigation showed ‘how far behind the world we are.’
However, Ms Taskin lamented ‘the court would not agree with us, so it sentenced me to five months in prison.’
The term is suspended meaning that the model will not be jailed unless she commits another offence.
Sex Museum director Monique van Marle told reporters she wrote to Ms Taskin, telling her: ‘Our museum is intended to educate people all around the world about the history of sex. We admire you for expressing yourself and posting such pictures.’
Turkey is majority Muslim and, although not as strict as many Middle Eastern countries, still maintains a traditional idea of how women should dress.
Women are not required to cover up in public, but many choose to wear a headscarf or burka, while others will opt for European styles on the more conservative side.
In October, a poster for a new TV production of Hamlet was censored with the nude body of an actress that appeared in the original being covered with a white cloth.
The UK Foreign Office advises on its website: ‘Dress modestly if you’re visiting a mosque or a religious shrine to avoid offence.’
Source: Daily Mail
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