A Turkish court has ordered the release of an American evangelical Christian pastor whose imprisonment sparked a row between Ankara and Washington.
The court on Friday sentenced Andrew Brunson to three years and 1-1/2 months in jail on terrorism charges, but released him after taking into account time served and good conduct.
The pastor was detained two years ago and has been under house arrest in the city of Izmir since July.
Brunson, 50, was indicted by a Turkish court on charges of having links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group and the movement of the US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Brunson has already denied the charges.
His detention sparked a widening rift between Turkey and the US. Washington called for Brunson’s release and taken a series of punitive measures against Turkey over the…