Turkish woman jailed for making 'offensive hand gesture' at Erdogan

A Turkish woman has been sentenced to almost a year in jail for making an offensive hand gesture at Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an anti-government protest in 2014. 

Filiz Akinci was convicted of making an offensive hand gesture at Erdogan - then prime minister - while his bus was passing on his way to a rally for local elections in the western city of Izmir in March 2014. 

In the sixth hearing of the trial on Wednesday, the court in Izmir sentenced Akinci, an economist, to 11 months and 20 days in jail, Dogan news agency reported. 

The court had originally sentenced her to six months in jail, but doubled it because the victim was a public official, Dogan added.

Akinci's sentence was eventually reduced by 10 days due to her "good behaviour" during the trial. She was also ordered to pay the eqivalent of $590 in legal costs.

"I am not guilty. I didn't commit any crime," Akinci told the court, breaking down into tears when the verdict was read out.

The judges did not suspend her sentence, as they have in most recent cases against those accused of insulting Erdogan or other top officials.

Concerns have mounted in recent months over freedom of expression in Turkey, in particular over the spiralling numbers of Turks being taken to court on charges of insulting Erdogan, accused by his opponents of increasing authoritarianism. 

Prosecutors last week opened an investigation against the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu for insulting the president by calling him a "tinpot dictator".

Without naming her, Erdogan had in a speech after the incident lashed out at Akinci for making the gesture, saying: "You did this when the prime minister of this country was passing by. I would understand if it was a man, but I do not understand how a woman could do it." 

Izmir, a port city on the Aegean coast, is seen as a bastion of secularism where Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) fares far less well than in its Anatolian strongholds.

Erdogan, who became president in August 2014 after almost 12 years as prime minister, faced street protests after a corruption scandal erupted in December 2013, implicating his key allies.