The Federal Supreme Court (STF) unanimously denied this Tuesday (5th) a request by the Turkish government that Brazil extradite a Turkish refugee who is part of a movement opposing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a case that lawyers and human rights organizations say it is political persecution.
Based in São Paulo, businessman Yakup Sagar, 54, belongs to Hizmet, an organization linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, a former ally who became Erdogan’s disaffected and is now considered a terrorist by his government.
In addition to purging the movement’s members within the country, with the dismissal and arrest of thousands of civil servants, judges, journalists and intellectuals, the Turkish president has sought the extradition of Hizmet sympathizers who have gone into exile in other countries.
This is the second case of its kind in Brazil: the other, involving Turkish naturalized Brazilian Ali Sipahi, was also unanimously dismissed by the Federal Supreme Court.
Sagar spent 19 days in precautionary detention at the end of last year, but was released on December 21, after STF judge Alexandre de Moraes accepted a defense request that he respond to the process in freedom.
In the extradition request, Ankara states that Sagar is responsible for crimes such as “attempting to destroy the State of the Republic of Turkey or preventing the State of the Republic of Turkey from functioning”, “fraud qualified by the abuse of religious convictions”, “act against the Terrorism Prevention and Financing Act” and “belonging to armed criminal organization”, all provided for in the Turkish penal code.
He allegedly committed these crimes in 2005, in the city where he lived, Zonguldak, in the north of the country. Eleven years later, the Superior Court of the region issued an arrest warrant against him. The year 2016 marked a new chapter in Erdogan’s relationship with Hizmet, a civil movement that had a lot of penetration in Turkish society, having founded schools, cultural centers, newspapers, hospitals and foundations.
The president blames Gülen’s supporters for a failed coup attempt against him that took place in July, leaving 250 dead and 2,000 injured. The cleric, who has been in exile in the US since 1999, denies it.
Yakup Sagar applied for asylum to the Brazilian government in 2017. His case was evaluated in 2022 by Conare (National Committee for Refugees), which accepted his request.
A spokesman for Hizmet in Zonguldak, where it had a shirt factory with 200 employees that was later confiscated by the Erdogan government, he said that four days after his departure, 84 businessmen from his city were detained on charges of terrorism.
Sagar’s defense gathered letters of support for him and Hizmet in Brazil, written by representatives of entities such as the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation, the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and Cáritas Arquidiocesana de São Paulo.
There is no extradition treaty between Brazil and Turkey, but the Turkish government can request this procedure through a promise of reciprocity — a commitment that it will act in the same way in relation to a possible similar request from the Brazilian government.
