Turkey begins trial of rights activists, including Amnesty local head
Turkey had begun trial of 11 human rights activists accused of terrorism charges, a case that sparked widespread concern in the West and became a flashpoint in Turkey’s tension with Europe. The activists included local head of Amnesty International and a German and a Swede, facing up to 15 years imprisonment on charges that involved […]
Turkey had begun trial of 11 human rights activists accused of terrorism charges, a case that sparked widespread concern in the West and became a flashpoint in Turkey’s tension with Europe.
The activists included local head of Amnesty International and a German and a Swede, facing up to 15 years imprisonment on charges that involved membership in and aid to an “armed terrorist organisation”.
They were detained in July after they participated in a workshop on digital security held on an island near Istanbul.
The case deepened concerns that Turkey was sliding faster toward authoritarianism under President Tayyip Erdogan.
The court started the trial by checking the identities of the defendants, said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty’s Director for Europe and Central Asia, outside the courthouse.
He said “this is ostensibly a trial of human rights defenders attending a workshop on an island in Istanbul, but in fact it is the Turkish justice system and Turkish authorities that are on trial.”
Meanwhile, police blocked the square outside the court, Istanbul’s Palace of Justice in the central Caglayan district, although the area was thronged with journalists.
Since a failed coup in 2016, authorities sacked or suspended some 150,000.
Western allies fear Erdogan was using the coup as pretext to root out opponents and quash dissent.
Among those arrested were Amnesty International’s Turkey Director, Idil Eser; German citizen, Peter Steudtner and Swedish citizen, Ali Gharavi. (Reuters/NAN)