Court issues partial ban of poem about Erdogan

A German Court has granted Turkish President Recep Erdogan an injunction on parts of a satirical poem by a German comedian that sparked a diplomatic row between Ankara and Berlin.

The civil court in Hamburg on Friday upheld an earlier decision to temporarily ban parts of the poem, in which Jan Boehmermann alleges that Erdogan watched child pornography and had sex with animals.

Erdogan’s lawyer, Michael-Hubertus von Sprenger, is pushing for a permanent ban on the entire poem and has said his client will appeal any other outcome.

A separate, criminal investigation into Boehmermann, also launched at the request of Erdogan, was dropped last month by German prosecutors, who said the poem was not intentionally slanderous and likely within the bounds of satire.

That investigation was carried out under a little-used statute against insulting foreign heads of state, prompting a heated debate about the limits of free speech in Germany.