After five long years of a judicial process stretched by adjournments, the Istanbul Court of First Instance finally acquitted the Turkish cartoonist Zehra Ömeroglu on Thursday 26 June.
The cartoonist was tried for an alleged offence of "obscenity" for a cartoon published in LeMan magazine in 2020 and faced a prison sentence of six months to three years and a fine.
The joke, published during the pandemic, alluded to the loss of taste and smell in people with COVID. In Zehra's cartoon, a man sniffs a woman from behind and thinks: "Ohhh.... At least I didn't lose my taste and smell...".
In the expert report dated 5 March 2025, it was stated that the work was protected under the Intellectual and Artistic Works Law. The Istanbul Court of First Instance ruled in accordance with this opinion and acquitted Zehra Ömeroğlu.
Cartooning for Peace, which reported the verdict today, welcomed the outcome of the trial, which highlights the need to fight the criminalisation of cartoonists.
In May this year, the Cartoonists Rights Network International awarded Zehra Ömeroğlu its annual Robert Russell Award for Courage.
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
