Ankara: A Turkish court yesterday sentenced Islamic television preacher and author Adnan Oktar to more than 1,000 years in jail for crimes including forming and leading a criminal gang, fraud and sexual abuse, state media said.
Oktar previously ran his own television channel A9 on which he hosted talk shows on Islamic values.
On occasion he was broadcast dancing with young women he called “kittens” and singing with young men he dubbed his “lions”.
Istanbul police arrested Oktar in July 2018, and he, along with 77 others, was kept in custody during the trial.
Oktar and 13 other high-ranking members of his group were in total sentenced to 9,803 years and six months in jail, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
Oktar himself was sentenced to a total 1,075 years and three months in prison.