Brazil court orders release of Gulen-linked businessman accused by Ankara of terrorism


Date posted: May 9, 2019

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court ordered Tuesday the release of a Brazil-based Turkish businessman who was arrested over links to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Ali Sipahi, a restaurant owner in Sao Paulo who has lived in Brazil for 12 years, faces charges in Ankara of belonging to a “terrorist organization” involved in the failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016, Brazil’s Supreme Court said.

Sipahi, 31, holds dual Turkish and Brazilian citizenship. He has been detained since early April awaiting a court hearing scheduled for May 3.

“The decision to revoke the imprisonment of an innocent citizen was an important step, and we will evaluate the next steps in the coming days,” Theo Dias, Sipahi’s lawyer, told AFP.

Brazil has yet to respond to Turkey’s extradition request, but there is no deadline for a decision.

Sipahi, who is married and has a child, is involved in the Brazil-Turkey Cultural Center (CCBT) and Turkey-Brazil Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which are connected to Gulen’s Hizmet (Service) movement.

Dias said his client has been targeted for depositing money in Turkish bank Asya, which has been linked to Gulen.

The case has caused “huge apprehension” in Brazil’s Turkish community, amid fears Erdogan may come after them next.

The extradition request is “clearly part of the international campaign that President Erdogan unleashed against sympathizers of the Hizmet movement and its leader Gulen,” Dias added.

Gulen, who lives in self-exile in the US state of Pennsylvania, is accused of ordering the attempted overthrow of Erdogan, but he strongly denies any involvement.

Ankara calls Hizmet a terrorist group, but followers insist they are part of a peaceful organization promoting moderate Islam and education.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested by Turkey in the crackdown that followed the attempted coup, and the Turkish authorities have also brought back suspects in secret operations from foreign countries, including Ukraine and Kosovo.

Source: France 24 , May 5, 2019

Tags: | | | |


Related News

4 people trying to escape persecution in Turkey missing after boat capsizes in Evros River

A woman and her three children went missing after a boat carrying several Turkish asylum seekers who fled Turkey due to an ongoing government crackdown on followers of the Gülen movement capsized in the Evros River along the Turkey-Greece border on Wednesday night, Euronews Turkish reported.

Exiled cleric Gulen explains why he thinks Erdogan has branded him a terrorist

Gulen claimed that [Erdogan turn against Hizmet and accuse it of plotting the failed coup] because he had refused Erdogan’s appeal to use the domestic and international Hizmet network as a propaganda tool to present himself as leader of Islam, at home and abroad. “But Hizmet rejected him and so Erdogan was angry,” Gulen said.

NPR interviews Stephen Kinzer on graft probe and Fethullah Gulen

A corruption scandal has forced Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reshuffle his cabinet, but he is rejecting calls for his resignation. Three of his ministers have resigned because of the scandal. The situation today is being called the biggest threat yet to Erdogan’s 11 years in office. Stephen Kinzer, visiting fellow at the Watson Institute at Brown University, joins Here & Now’s Robin Young to discuss the unfolding situation in Turkey.

Hundreds of young Turkish children jailed alongside their moms as part of a post-coup crackdown

“We were all treated like terrorists, we were isolated,” Kam, a 34-year-old university teacher, told Fox News from Germany, where she and her family are now refugees. “We were all humiliated. … I don’t know what was worse, to have my baby in the prison or to have my other son, who was 11, outside the prison.”

Grand stage shows by Turkish Olympiad students enthrall İzmir locals

İPEK ÜZÜM, İSTANBUL Students coming to Turkey from all around the globe for the 11th International Turkish Olympiad — a festival that celebrates the Turkish language and which this year has brought together 2,000 students from 140 countries — fascinated thousands of locals in İzmir with their stage performances on Sunday night. A very large […]

Mysterious visitors to holdings

Reports of certain visitors paying “unexpected” visits to various Turkish holdings and company headquarters are currently being spread in economy circles. As these guests are connected or close in some way or other to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), their visits can hardly be perceived as routine. These influential people are not making their visits for a cup of coffee. They send a short and clear message to the chairman of the executive board or to the general director, asking them to make a statement criticizing the Hizmet movement.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Prime Ministry approved Kimse Yok Mu, now accused of ‘terrorism’

Turkey’s Curious Coup – positions of the Turkish Government, Gulen Movement and Turkey’s Western allies

Turkish Cultural Center Maine honors Governor LePage

Gülen’s followers banned from mosque in Germany

Festival brings Turkish arts and culture downtown

Fethullah Gulen, the man rushing to put out the fire

Man killed in Yalova over sympathy for Hizmet movement

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News