Belgian Model Faces Arrest for Nude Photo at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia

Two years ago, Belgian model Marisa Papen, who defines herself as a free-spirited model, had done a scandalous photo shoot in Istanbul. She had herself photographed at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, a former Byzantine cathedral, then an Ottoman mosque, and now a museum.

"We decided to wait for a group accompanied by a guide, and as he was telling the history of the monument and everyone was listening, the time came to take action," she recounted on CEN News. She had lifted her dress to show the intimate parts of her body. The model had also posed nude on a Turkish flag, during her trip to Cappadocia.

Two years after this controversial photo shoot, the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant against the 28-year-old woman, then convicted her of "deceptive acts" and "public humiliation of the sovereignty of the State". She can therefore be arrested at any time.

It has become a habit for Belgian model Marisa Papen to pose nude in front of religious sites. She had already been photographed inside an ancient Egyptian temple and in front of the Wailing Wall. A series of shots she had titled The Wall of Shame. She had been imprisoned for the photos taken in the former temple complex of Karnak, near the Egyptian city of Luxor.