Eighteen months in prison for wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. The story is incredible and yet even more painful as details unravel. Cihan Kýrmýzýgül had just left his friend's house in February 2010. He was making his way home and stopped at the bus stop, unaware of what would have shortly after fallen upon him. Indeed in the same area, Çaðlayan, a group of people had thrown Molotov cocktails to an empty supermarket.

Eye witnesses to the incident told the police the youngsters were wearing keffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress made from a square black and white piece of cloth.

Cihan Kýrmýzýgül was waiting for the bus and he was wearing a keffiyeh around his neck. Two plus two equals four and the police had their 'guilty'. The next thing the young university student waiting for a bus to take him home after a day spent with a friend knew was that he found himself in prison accused of having thrown molotov cocktails.

Indeed the police stated that he was arrested because "he might have been part of the incident".

The student was taken before the Beþiktaþ (Istanbul) 14th High Criminal Special Authority Court. The prosecutor demanded his release, but he was arrested on the grounds of allegedly having thrown a Molotov cocktail on 21 February. Kýrmýzýgül was brought to the Tekirdað No.2 F Type Prison.

The 23-year-old student is one of four children of a family that migrated from Adýyaman in south-eastern Anatolia to Adana on the eastern Mediterranean coast. He had won a place at the Galatasaray University Department of Industrial Engineering and he moved to Istanbul to attend the university.

When he was arrested 18 months ago Kýrmýzýgül was in his second year. He lost some 30 kilos while in prison and now he has to defend himself from the charge of being a "member of an organization" and "harming private property".

The new hearing, the fifth, of his case will be held on 14 September.

The 23 years old student had never been taken into police custody.