Sentence upheld for Turkish astronomer who banned headscarves

Nature : Turkish law forbids the display of religious symbols on the premises of government institutions. However, in 2010, Turkey’s Higher Education Board lifted the ban on wearing headscarves on university campuses. In 2012, Esat Rennan Pekünlü, an astronomer and professor at Ege University in Izmir was convicted of violating the rights and freedoms of women at the university after he barred one student from entering a campus building because she was wearing a headscarf. Although Pekünlü argued that he was observing the Turkish constitution’s ban on displays of religious symbols, Ankara’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the 25-month jail sentence handed down by a lower court. A coalition of academic organizations claims that the case should have been handled by an administrative, not a criminal, court. They believe that the trial was not fair and represents an attack on secular scientists.