WORLD : Turks Oust 3 in ‘Temptation’ Protest

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey today deported three U.S. citizens who were detained after proselytizing outside a movie theater showing the film, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” a U.S. Consulate official said.

David Kim Wilson, 35, of Chicago; his wife, Pamela Lynn Wilson, 32, of Des Moines, and Norma Cox, 45, of Chicago, were put on a Turkish Airlines flight to Athens. Cox had been teaching English in Istanbul since 1981, while the Wilsons were tourists, a consulate official said on condition of anonymity.

The three were detained April 4 in front of a movie theater, where they were handing out pamphlets protesting Martin Scorsese’s film. They were released after questioning April 11 and were later fined about $2 each for conducting unauthorized activities before being deported.