British artist fined for collage depicting Turkish prime minister

British artist Michael Dickinson has been fined and may face jail time for refusing to pay the fine for insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in an art piece called "Good Boy," the BBC reported Wednesday.

The collage has the prime minister’s photograph superimposed onto the body of a dog with the words ‘We will not be Bush's dog.’ Charges against Dickinson were first filed in 2006 when he exhibited a collage called Best in Show, which depicts the prime minister as a dog being patted by President George Bush.

The Turkish court handed down an acquittal for mockery for the first collage in September 2008, but when Dickinson displayed the "Good Boy" collage in protest, a new case was filed against the 59-year-old Briton who lives in Istanbul.

The court has handed down a monetary penalty that Dickinson has said he will refuse to pay. The preceding judge has given the artist until March 9 to pay the fine, at which time he may face jail time or deportation.

Dickinson has told the press he does not think what he did is criminal. He added that it is not right that – as Istanbul begins its tenure as a European Culture Capital – the Turkish government should restrict artistic freedoms, especially those rooted in the freedom of speech.

To see a "Good Boy," visit the BBC's Web site.