University student Cihan Kýrmýzýgül was released pending trial at the eighth hearing of his case on Friday (23 March). The Galatasaray University student is tried under allegations of "membership in an illegal organization". He was initially taken into custody because he was wearing a keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian headscarf.

The hearing before the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court was attended by Kýrmýzýgül and his lawyers Hasan Fehmi Demir and Fikret Ýlkiz.

President Judge Rüstem Eryýlmaz and the other members of the court board were substituted by a different court board due to a seminar of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) in Ankara.

After a five-minute intermission, the court announced its decision to release Kýrmýzýgül pending trial.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel said in a short speech, "We came to get Cihan".

Kýrmýzýgül was arrested while waiting for a bus. He was not able to continue his studies during his time in detention. The evidence his arrest was based on is the keffiyeh he wore around his neck.

In February 2010, a group of people threw Molotov cocktails to an empty supermarket in Çaðlayan/Istanbul and fled the scene. Eye witnesses stated that the persons belonging to that group were wearing keffiyehs.