An Istanbul court has convicted popular Turkish stand-up comedian Deniz Göktaş of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and ordered him released after nearly three months already served in detention. The 32-year-old, who had faced the prospect of up to 12 years in prison, was handed a sentence of just under 19 months and also found guilty of insulting religious values, though he was acquitted of a separate charge of glorifying crime. A travel ban preventing him from leaving Turkey remains in place, and a final ruling will come from a court of appeals.

Göktaş, an Ankara-born comedian who began his career in 2019 at Istanbul's TuzBiber comedy club and has since performed across Europe and the United States, was arrested at Istanbul airport on 2 July as he returned from holiday. His detention followed the viral spread of a stand-up show he had posted on YouTube in late June, which attracted more than 15 million views. Prosecutors focused on a line in which Göktaş called Erdoğan