Notorious Turkish Author of Controversial Creationist Atlas is Jailed

In an interesting development, Harun Yahya, the author of the controversial “Atlas of Creation” has been arrested and convicted by a Turkish court of "creating an illegal organization for personal gain." He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Yahya, whose real name is Adnan Oktar, has been distributing the massive creationist volume to individuals and universities all over the world. The beautifully produced book, which has 800 pages and weighs 12 pounds, gained notoriety for its attempts to disprove Darwin’s theory of natural selection by using so-called fossil evidence. It has been repudiated by every scientist in the field as having no scientific value. Last year, when I wrote a Digital Journal article (as Unusual Suspect) about Yahya and his book, the big mystery was how the Atlas was financed, since it was clearly a very expensive production, but was being given away by the thousands. The current article doesn’t clear up that mystery, but since Yahya was charged, in an earlier trial, with “using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime,” there must have been some interesting hanky panky behind the scenes. A spokesman for his organization, the Foundation for Scientific Research, told Reuters News Agency that the judge was influenced by pressure groups, and that there will be an appeal.