ADNAN OKTAR: In other words, for the first time in the history of the republic they kept a writer, an intellectual, detained for 10 months among mental patients. Among mental patients who had killed people. Have you ever heard of or read about a writer, an intellectual or anyone being detained for 10 months?

ADNAN OKTAR: And these mental patients killed 7 people in my time there. They were mental patients who killed 7 people in 10 months. This is a huge matter. Have you ever seen a writer being kept chained by his foot to a bed with a 50-cm length of chain for 45 days? Have you ever heard of that? These things are firsts in the history of the republic. Allah in His wisdom constantly exposes me to firsts. All of them are the firsts and are very surprising events.

ADNAN OKTAR: 1986. Ten months among mental patients, 70%-80% of whom did not have their clothes on. They are even unaware of their basic needs. Everywhere was covered in iron to stop them smashing their heads on the glass. But they still used to injure themselves. Everywhere was covered in blood. People screaming, shrieking, weeping and rolling round on the floor… Can you imagine what it means to keep someone there for 10 months? You couldn’t take 10 minutes of it, let alone 10 months. You couldn’t take it for 10 minutes if they put you in there.

PRESENTER: Was that following a judicial procedure?

ADNAN OKTAR: Yes…

PRESENTER: How did that happen?

ADNAN OKTAR: The court told them to take me to the Forensic Department, and the Forensic Department said “he is mentally ill”, and they took me off there.

PRESENTER: But after 10 months, it was proved that this was totally groundless.

ADNAN OKTAR: Indeed… I had already been prosecuted for spreading religious propaganda, prosecuted in other cases, and I was imprisoned for 9 months. I had said I was a member of the nation (ummah) of Islam and of the Turkish community. That is all. A single word. That judge, whom I respect and whose memory I treasure so much said, “Son. You said those words, didn’t you?” “Yes, Sir, I did.” I replied. Because I saw nothing wrong in it. I am a member of the nation (ummah) of Islam. The word “religion” is used in the sense of a nation in the Qur’an. That was the sense in which I described myself as a member of the nation (ummah) of Islam. Those words appear in the Qur’an, as well as in the dictionaries. I am saying I am a member of the Turkish Community, and I am so. That is true. They asked if I said that, and I said I did. There were no lawyers at present in that time, the law did not work like that in 1986. “All right,” he said.“The defendant is to be arrested,” he declared. “Okay?” I said in surprise. I did not even understand that I would be arrested. I imagined I would just wait there, that I was to put in custody or something. But things turned out differently. They took me to prison. My head and beard were shaved. I was given prison clothing, which was light blue then. They put me in a one-man cell for 9 months. In a cell 1.5meters to 2 meters in size. Just 1.5 to 2 meters. I was kept there in that cell, with its steel door, for 9 months. Then eventually I was acquitted.