With all the delays and hold-ups, the Court finally announced its verdict on 6 December, 1948. Disregarding all the evidence it found Bediuzzaman guilty under Article 163 of Criminal Code of in various respects, “exploiting religious feelings and inciting the people against the Government.” That a court of law should have allowed itself to be used in this blatant miscarriage of justice was a denigration of the law itself and a disgraceful episode in Turkish legal history.[50. This is further proved by the fact that subsequently to 1949 the Risale-i Nur and Fifth Ray in particular, which was made the main pretext of the Afyon judges’ decision, have been acquitted more than 1500 times in Turkish courts of law.] It sentenced Bediuzzaman to two years’ “penal servitude”, which was reduced to twenty months due to his age. Ahmad Feyzi Kul, who had made the long defence, was sentenced to eighteen months, and twenty others of Bediuzzaman’s students to six months each. Some of these had already been inside the prison for eleven months, others for less. Those who had served their terms were released, while others who had been tried not under arrest, were arrested and put inside.
Then began a long drawn-out legal wrangle that did not reach a final conclusion until 1956. On the Court’s passing sentence, the case was immediately sent to the Appeal Court in Ankara, but as mentioned earlier, the Prosecutor delayed the sending of the documents, only sending them on the intervention of the three lawyers.[51. Sualar, 454.] In the prison also the injustices against Bediuzzaman continued, or were even increased, for it was at this time that the weather became so cold and he was forcibly moved to another ward.[52. Sualar, 502.] Both he and his students wrote further defences and pieces to be sent also to the Appeal Court. The lawyers gave the defence in the Appeal Court, which gave its decision on 4 June, 1949: since Said Nursi had been acquitted on the same charges by Denizli Court, and this decision had been confirmed by the Appeal Court, it quashed the decision of Afyon Court.
Although Bediuzzaman and his students should have been released at this point, Afyon Court reassembled on the case being referred back to it. They were asked what they wanted. On their replying that they wanted the Appeal Court’s decision to be applied, the Court withdrew for prolonged consideration.
Finally, it had no choice but to agree. But then, on 31 August, 1949, the decision was taken to retry the case, and hearings began once again. In this way, with continual postponements and delays, in an entirely unlawful manner, Bediuzzaman was made to serve the full twenty months the Court had originally sentenced him to. Only when he had completed this term did they release him. His students also were released on completing their sentences. In this way, the tyrannical and obdurate Prosecutor perpetrated what was no less than a crime on these innocent people right up to the very last moment he was able. And when it came to releasing Bediuzzaman, they did not permit him to leave the prison at the normal hour, but just before dawn.
The story of Afyon Court does not finish here; the hearings continued with the accused in absentia, until the general amnesty announced after the victory of the Democrat Party in the 1950 general elections. But even then the Prosecutor would not let the matter rest; he insisted on the works in question – the Risale-i Nur – being separated from the criminal proceedings, and the continuation of the case. Thus, the trial of the Risale-i Nur continued.
The Court finally reached a decision that copies of the Risale-i Nur should be confiscated. The case was sent to the Appeal Court. The Appeal Court again quashed Afyon Court’s decision. Afyon Court had no choice now but to comply with the Appeal Court’s judgement and acquit the Risale-i Nur. But the Prosecutor would not accept this, and he sent this decision before the Appeal Court. This time, the Appeal Court quashed Afyon Court’s latest decision due to some technicalities. The case continued. Then Afyon Court ruled that the Risale-i Nur should be acquitted and copies returned to their owners. Whereupon the Prosecutor again sent the case to the Appeal Court.
This time the Appeal Court decided that the entire Risale-i Nur should be rescrutinized by a committee of experts and the Directorate of Religious Affairs was directed to set one up. A new committee produced a report. And finally, relying on this report, in June, 1956, Afyon Court cleared the Risale-i Nur and ruled that all the confiscated copies should be returned to their owners. This time the Prosecutor admitted his defeat, and the decision was made final.[53. Tarihçe, 475-7; 539.]