AN ARTIST who faces jail in Turkey for displaying a collage mocking its Prime Minister could finally go on trial this week.

Michael Dickinson, who is originally from Durham, but has lived and worked as a teacher in Turkey for more than 20 years, has had the threat of up to three years jail hanging over him since 2006.

He provoked anger in Turkey when displaying the collage, called Good Boy, showing the Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdoğan, as a dog with a stars and stripe leash and a nuclear missile for a tail.

Mr Dickinson, 58, originally exhibited another similar collage, Best in Show, in an art exhibition staged by the Global Peace and Justice Coalition (BAK) in Istanbul in June 2006. The picture, which depicted the Turkish PM as a dog being given a rosette by American President George Bush, was removed by police and Dickinson was informed he would be prosecuted. In September of that year he attended a court hearing where he was told he would not be prosecuted, although Erkan Kara, of the Coalition, would be.

Dickinson then held up his new collage, Good Boy, outside the court in protest, and was again arrested.

He is accused of insulting the Prime Minister and has been held in police custody, describing conditions as "horrific".

Two court hearings have already been adjourned in the case.

A judge is expected to decide whether the collage was art or an insult.

Mr Dickinson was educated at Fyling Hall Boarding School, in Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, as well as Durham Technical College.

His case will be heard again in Turkey's capital Istanbul on Thursday of this week.

Mr Dickinson, who claims he is making a stand for freedom of expression, says he is being "politically persecuted".

He also said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had done little to help his case, describing him as "useless".

Mr Dickinson is a member of the Stuckists art movement, whose co-founder, Charles Thomson, wrote to Mr Brown about the case. He received a reply from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office saying “we are unable to interfere in the judicial process of other countries".

Mr Thomson said: “This is a pathetic response. The government should make it clear to Turkey that as long as they repress freedom of speech, they have no place in the European Union.”