February 2, 1956 - Adnan Oktar
Operating under the pen name Harun Yahya, he built a sprawling media and publishing enterprise that blended Islamic creationism with aggressive legal intimidation — filing thousands of defamation suits that resulted in widespread website blocks across Turkey. What lay beneath the televangelist persona was a tightly controlled organization that prosecutors ultimately characterized as a criminal gang, resulting in a sentence exceeding 8,600 years on charges including the sexual abuse of minors and espionage. His case illustrates how institutional religiosity and prolific self-promotion can serve as cover for sustained, serious harm.
From Wikipedia
Adnan Oktar (Turkish pronunciation: [ɑdˈnan ɔkˈtaɾ]; born 2 February 1956), also known as Adnan Hoca or Harun Yahya, is a Turkish Muslim Quranist televangelist, Islamic creationist, author, and religious leader. His organization is commonly referred to as a cult, and he has been described as a cult leader.
Between the 2000s and late 2010s, he was engaged in "a massive campaign" of proselytizing Westerners to Islam, producing dozens of vividly illustrated books. On 17 November 2022, he was sentenced to 8,658 years in prison for leading a criminal gang, engaging in political and military espionage, sexual abuse of minors, and other charges. Prior to his arrest, Oktar established and ran two organizations: Bilim Araştırma Vakfı (BAV), which promoted creationism, and Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı which worked domestically on a variety of moral issues.
In the West, before his arrest and trial, Oktar sent thousands of unsolicited copies of his creationist book, The Atlas of Creation, to French schools and universities in January 2007, and several months later to American scientists, members of Congress, science museums, and schools.
Oktar has advocated a version of Islam that rejects both Sunni and Shia traditions, focusing instead on Quranism. He has preached "the true Islam" based on the Quran on his television channel, A9 TV. Oktar filed more than 5,000 lawsuits against individuals for defamation from 2005 to 2015, which led to the blocking of a number of prominent websites in Turkey.
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