riage of justice was a denigration of the law itself and a disgraceful episode in Turkish legal history. [^352] It sentenced Bediuzzaman to two years' "penal servitude", which was reduced to twenty months due to his age. Ahmad Feyzi Kul, who had made the long defence, was sentenced to eighteen months, and twenty others of Bediuzzaman's students to six months each. Some of these had already been inside the prison for eleven months, others for less. Some who had served their terms were released, others who had been tried not under arrest were arrested and put inside.

[^352]:This is further proved by the fact that subsequently to 1949 the Risale-i Nur and Fifth Ray in particular, which was made the main pretext of the Afyon judges' decision, have been acquitted more than 1500 times in Turkish courts of law.

Then began a long drawn-out legal wrangle that did not reach a final conclusion until 1956. On the court's passing sentence, the case was immediately sent to the Appeal Court in Ankara, but as mentioned earlier, the prosecutor delayed the sending of the documents, only sending them on the intervention of the three lawyers. [^353] In the prison also the injustices against Bediuzzaman continued, or were even increased, for it was at this time that the weather became so cold and he was forcibly moved to another ward. [^354] Both he and his students wrote further defences and pieces to be sent also to the Appeal Court. The lawyers gave the defence in the Appeal Court, which gave its decision on 4 June 1949: since Said Nursi had been acquitted on the same charges by Denizli Court, and this decision had been confirmed by the Appeal Court, it quashed the decision of Afyon Court.

[^353]:Nursi, Şualar, 454 (Eng. tr.: Rays, 532).

[^354]:Ibid., 502 (Eng. tr.: Rays, 570).

Although Bediuzzaman and his students should have been released at this point, Afyon Court reassembled on the case being referred back to it. They were asked what they wanted. On their replying that they wanted the Appeal Court's decision to be applied, the court withdrew for prolonged consideration. Finally, it had no choice but to agree. But then, on 31 August, 1949, the decision was taken to retry the case, and hearings began once again. In this way, with continual postponements and delays, in an entirely unlawful manner, Bediuzzaman was made to serve the full twenty months the court had originally sentenced him to. Only when he had completed this term did they release him. His students also were released on completing their sentences. In this way, the tyrannical and obdurate prosecutor perpetrated what was no less than a crime on these innocent people right up to the very last moment he was able. And when it came to releasing Bediuzzaman, they did not permit him to leave the prison at the normal hour, but just before dawn.