Conviction Islamic institutions and contexts Other Islamic authority or family context Hazro, Diyarbakır, Turkey · 2018

Turkey: district mufti convicted after using marriage promises and blackmail to sexually abuse a Quran-course supervisor

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

district mufti (state religious official)

Organization

Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı (Directorate of Religious Affairs), Hazro District Mufti's Office

Spiritual nexus

As a state-appointed district mufti overseeing a girls' Quran-recitation course, Kaya used his religious office and the credibility of a promised religious marriage to initiate the relationship, then sexual blackmail to compel continued abuse of the woman who supervised the course under his religious authority.

Religious marriage or family control
Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

Date in cited record · verdict

Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court (criminal). Former Hazro district mufti İsmail Kaya sentenced to 26 years 2 months 15 days for deceiving a Quran-recitation course supervisor with marriage promises, sexually assaulting her, then coercing further abuse by threatening to circulate nude photographs of her.
Date in cited record · appeal — upheld

Regional Court of Appeal / Court of Cassation (Yargıtay). Conviction and sentence upheld unanimously through appeal and by the Court of Cassation, which found the evidence (nude photographs, WhatsApp messages) lawfully obtained and the lower courts' findings free of error.

Documented coercion mechanisms

religious authority
promise of religious marriage
sexual blackmail with photographs

Primary record

Sources

Sözcü, 'Evli müftüye, evlilik vaadiyle cinsel istismardan 26 yıl hapis'. Available at: sozcu.com.tr (Accessed: 19 July 2026).: Turkish original: "Diyarbakır'ın Hazro ilçesinde... evlilik vaadiyle bir kadını cinsel istismar ettiği, ardından çıplak fotoğraflarla şantaj yaparak zorla alıkoyup istismarını sürdürdüğü belirlenen eski müftü İsmail Kaya'ya 26 yıl 2 ay 15 gün hapis cezası verildi. Yargıtay, kararı oybirliğiyle onadı." English gloss: Former mufti İsmail Kaya, found to have sexually abused a woman under promise of marriage in Hazro district, Diyarbakır, then blackmailed her with nude photographs to forcibly detain and continue abusing her, was sentenced to 26 years 2 months 15 days. The Court of Cassation upheld the verdict unanimously.

Related record

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