STUDENTS who unveiled a banner showing Islam’s holiest site adorned with the LGBT rainbow colours face up to three years prison in Turkey after prosecutors charged them today with inciting public hatred.

The students are from Istanbul’s Bogazici University, which has been the centre of anti-government resistance since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree appointing his political ally Melhi Bulu as rector.

Two of those who displayed the banner depicting the Kabaa in Mecca with LGBT imagery have been held in custody since January 30, with prosecutors seeking between one and three years’ imprisonment for “inciting hatred and animosity.”