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posted by janrinok on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the wrong-place-wrong-time dept.

A Turkish-American NASA scientist who visited his family during the 2016 coup has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on terrorism charges:

Serkan Golge, a Turkish-American research scientist at NASA in Houston, Texas, was sentenced to 7.5 years in a Turkish prison Thursday on terrorism charges. The verdict, which has been condemned by the U.S. government, has put his career on hold and left his family and friends reeling. "I feel like this cannot be real," his wife Kubra Golge, who was inside the courtroom when her husband's verdict was read, tells Science.

At a press briefing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State said the United States is "deeply concerned" by Golge's conviction, which came "without credible evidence." The spokesperson said the U.S. government would continue to follow his case closely. A spokesperson for Turkey's foreign ministry dismissed the criticism in a statement posted to its website and said the court's decision must be respected.

Golge, a dual citizen who had been studying the effects of radiation on astronauts, was swept up in a crackdown that followed Turkey's 2016 failed military coup. While visiting family in southern Turkey weeks after the putsch attempt, police showed up to his parents' home and arrested him in front of his wife and children. According to Golge's wife, a distant relative who was angered over an inheritance dispute told police Golge was a spy and supporter of Fethullah Gülen, the Islamic cleric who Turkey accuses of masterminding the coup.


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  • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday February 15 2018, @04:30AM (1 child)

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Thursday February 15 2018, @04:30AM (#638076)

    if you travel to the US, you don't expect a 3rd world 'court system'. sure, ours is horribly broken, but we're not a left-behind nation like most of that area of the world (extended middle east).

    even for business, I'd never travel to or even OVER an arab or muslim-majority country. just not worth the risk and I don't agree with a single thing that they agree with (on the major issues). I would never expect a fare trial in one of those countries.

    I realize he was turkish, but he still should have thought twice about traveling to such a place.

    look, a lot of backassward countries are really hostile toward foreigners. its sad to say, but if you go to such a place, you own that decision and all that it entails.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @09:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @09:04AM (#638147)

    > if you travel to the US, you don't expect a 3rd world 'court system'.

    Sadly, that's not really the case :/ It's prudent to do similar precautions for traveling to US as for the 3rd world countries. Just last week or so there was an article about a denied extradition request for a European "hacker", who will be tried in his own country because extraditing him to the US for trial would be inhumane.

    Taking your electronics at the border. Indefinite detentions without trial. Trigger-happy cops. Largest prison population in the world. And what other "civilized" country not only doesn't punish robbery at badge-point, but actually encourages it?

    > look, a lot of backassward countries are really hostile toward foreigners. its sad to say, but if you go to such a place, you own that decision and all that it entails.

    Yeah, now you're just trolling -.-