Richard Dawkins' Web site banned in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- An Istanbul, Turkey, court has banned the Web site of evolutionist Richard Dawkins in the country after a Muslim author claimed the site insulted him.

The Sisli 2nd Criminal Court of Peace ruled to ban the site Sept. 3 after creationist Adnan Oktar, author of "Atlas of Creation," claimed the site insulted his book, Bia reported Friday.

Turkish users attempting to access the Web site of Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist with England's University of Oxford and bestselling author of "The God Delusion," are now faced with a message reading: "The access to the site has been banned by court order."

"We are not against freedom of speech or expression but you cannot insult people," Oktar's press assistant, Seda Aral, told Britain's The Telegraph of the creationist author's push to have richarddawkins.net banned. "We found the comments hurtful. It was not a scientific discussion. There was a line and the limit has been passed. We have used all the legal means to stop this site. We asked them to remove the comments but they did not."