Turkey Uses Video of Food as Evidence in Pastor Andrew Brunson’s Trial

In the ongoing trial of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was arrested in December 2016 on false charges of espionage and terrorism in Turkey, a video of a Middle Eastern dish that Brunson’s daughter sent him from the United States is being viewed as evidence.

This “evidence” is mentioned in the 62-page indictment of Brunson, on which the trial is based, according to Citizen Times.

The video is about the Middle Eastern dish Maklube, but the indictment claims it’s “a dish cooked by members of the organization (Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen and his FETO network — a group the Turkish government blames for a 2016 coup attempt) at meetings and religious gatherings at the FETÖ/PDY armed terrorist organization’s cell houses.”

The indictment further claims that American churches are linked to the FBI and the CIA, that around 40 percent of members of the U.S.’ armed forces serving overseas are Mormons, and that someone gathered some information about gas stations in Turkey which shows that Brunson was trying to overthrow the Turkish government.

Brunson, a North Carolina native who has led a small congregation in Izmir for the past two decades, has denied all the charges.

The indictment demands up to 15 years in prison for crimes in the name of the Gulen movement and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and up to 20 years for obtaining state secrets for political or military espionage, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency. The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan holds the banned group responsible for the failed coup.

Rights advocates…