Eight of Turkey’s most respected human rights defenders were arrested on 5 July, along with two information technology trainers from Sweden and Germany. All ten of those arrested are still in police custody and are now facing investigation for membership of an “armed terrorist organisation” on account of their peaceful human rights work. The group had gathered for digital security and information management workshop on one of Istanbul’s islands, Buyukada, when police raided the workshop, detained the participants, and confiscated electronic equipment including computers and mobile phones. Among those arrested was the director of Amnesty International Turkey, Idil Eser. Amnesty International described the arrests as a “grotesque abuse of power and highlights the precarious situation facing human rights activists in the country”, urging world leaders to speak out against this “hammer blow to Turkey’s besieged civil society and an ominous indicator of the direction Turkey is heading in”. More information is available here.
Source: Global Voices