Turkish Pop Star Jailed over her joke for Religious Schools 

according to teh country’s state-run news agency, Turkish pop star Gulsen has been arrested on suspicion of “inciting hatred and enmity” over a joke she made about Turkey’s religious schools.

teh 46-year-old singer and songwriter, whose full name is Gulsen Colakoglu, was arrested from her Istanbul home for questioning and was officially released late Thursday before being released to a jail pending her trial.

The detention sparked outrage on social media. Government critics said the step was part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempt to broaden his religious and conservative support base ahead of the upcoming elections in ten months.

charges were based on a joke made by Gulsen during a concert in Istanbul in April, when she said that one of her musicians’ “perversion” stemmed from the fact that he attended a religious academy.

Earlier this month, a video of the singer making the remarks began trending on social media, with a hashtag calling for her arrest.

Gulsen, who had already been the subject of Islamic circles for her revealing stage outfits, offered an apology for the offense incurred, but said her remarks were taken on by those seeking to deepen the country’s polarization.