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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.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by insanumingenium on Wednesday February 14 2018, @06:54PM (7 children)
He was a dual citizen, he knew what was going on there, and that of course he is subject to their judicial system. Is the idea that Turkey would convene a kangaroo court actually surprising to him? Did anyone expect a sovereign nation to change a court ruling because other nations don't agree? Would we expect Turks to be released from Gitmo because Erdoğan said they were falsely tried? If I was being held as a terrorist in one country, I would do anything in my power to prevent my wife from moving to that country, you know the game is crooked, why would you go all in?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 14 2018, @08:01PM (3 children)
Tell that to the State Department!
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @07:27AM (2 children)
What State Department?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 15 2018, @11:08AM (1 child)
Denial
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @01:30PM
But that's in Egypt!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15 2018, @09:15AM (1 child)
I fail to see where in TFS or TFA you found the critically important piece of information that he knew he was accused of terrorism before he went to Turkey. Without that, your rant boils down to "guilty until proven innocent" combined with "she asked for it".
Of course, the game in the US is crooked as well -- if you get wrongfully convicted, fuck it, your own fault for living there and going all in, amirite?
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday February 15 2018, @11:05PM
We need quick justice and we need strong justice -- much quicker and much stronger than we have right now -- because what we have right now is a JOKE, and it's a laughingstock!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @10:06AM
I agree -- his brother-in-law -- could easily have said, He works for NASA. He imports these radiation-tainted astronaut costumes for Halloween; he is a terrorist, because he knows there is no treatment for radiation exposure in this country! And I should have inherited that mansion that belonged to my wife's parents!! I better stop talking now