without looking behind him, but in order to provoke an incident, kicked somebody's leg. This brother felt no pain. But we looked at his leg later, and it was all purple and bruised." [^348]

[^348]:Mustafa Ezener, in Son Şahitler, iv, 180.

At the same time Bediuzzaman was not content to allow the injustices of the trial to pass unnoticed. As in Denizli, he arranged through his students for copies of his defence speeches, and also those of his students and copies of his table of the ninety errors in the indictment and his answers, to departments of government in Ankara, in order to make known the reality of the case. Only here in Afyon, he endeavoured to organize it on a larger scale, sending copies also to Isparta — for his students there to duplicate, to be shown to the public prosecutor, and also to Denizli and Istanbul. These were also made into book form and distributed. He also instructed them to send copies to the Directorate of Religious Affairs in Ankara. [^349]

[^349]:Nursi, Şualar, 409, 412 (Eng. tr.: Rays, 482, 486).

This operation had to be organized in secrecy and under the difficult conditions of the prison. The copies which Bediuzzaman wanted produced in the new letters had to be typed out on typewriters, which unlike Denizli, they were not permitted. Their lawyer, Ahmed Bey, assisted them with this — Bediuzzaman stressing in his letters the need for accuracy. A soldier stationed in Afyon called Nihad Bozkurt, who used to visit a friend in the prison twice a week, also typed out the defence speeches for them. [^350]

[^350]:Nihad Bozkurt, in Son Şahitler, iv, 248-9.

At one point even, the court had reproduced parts of the indictment "which they imagined were against" Bediuzzaman and his students. In response to this propaganda campaign, which was undoubtedly an abuse of the court's powers and was aimed at turning public opinion against them, Bediuzzaman had duplicated copies of his table of the errors in the indictment, which were little more than slander, in order to have them distributed, and also further copies of their defences so as to inform people of the truth of the matter. [^351]

[^351]:Nursi, Şualar, 453 (Eng. tr.: Rays, 531).

#### The Court's Verdict

The Court's Verdict

With all the delays and hold-ups, the court finally announced its verdict on 6 December, 1948. Disregarding all the evidence, it found Bediuzzaman guilty under Article 163 of Criminal Code of in various respects, "exploiting religious feelings and inciting the people against the government." That a court of law should have allowed itself to be used in this blatant miscar-