Turkish court bans access to posts related to suspicious death of 12-year-old upon Menzil Cult’s request

A Turkish Court on June 20 banned access to 39 Twitter posts related to the suspicious death of 12-year-old Abdulbaki Dakak near the cult’s illegal Quran course. The court restricted posts of numerous news websites, journalists, political parties, and MPs regarding the child’s death.

Wednesday June 21 2023 09:30 pm

This picture shows 12-year-old Abdulbaki Dakak.

Duvar English

While the suspicious death of 12-year-old Abdulbaki Dakak, who was reportedly "studying" at an unauthorized Quran course affiliated with the Menzil Community in Şanlıurfa, continues to be investigated, the cult has obtained access restrictions on numerous posts related to the child’s death.

Hakan Yavuz, the lawyer representing the Semerkand Foundation which is known to be affiliated with the cult, filed an application to the Istanbul Criminal Judgeship of Peace for a request to block access to the posts on Twitter related to the incident. The court on June 20 decided to block access to a total of 39 posts, according to the daily BirGün.

The court’s access ban included social media posts of many newspapers, news websites, political parties, MPs, and journalists.

Dadak went missing on June 10 and was found dead one day later hanged at a barn next to an illegal Quran course belonging to the Menzil cult to which his family had been forced to send him. In the first report issued by the forensic medicine institution, the incident was recorded as suicide.

Menzil is a radical Islamic cult that has been growing significantly in the last decade through its increasing affiliations with state institutions.