Truth and justice ‘total strangers’ in Turkey: Amnesty

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Amnesty International on Tuesday said honesty and integrity were not present in Turkey after its representatives were taken into custody.

Amnesty declared truth and justice had become “total strangers” in Turkey following the detention of its local director and five other activists.

The Amnesty members were detained on July 5 while attending a workshop on digital security and information management under accusations of “belonging to a terrorist organization.”

Idil Eser, the group’s local director, and several other activists including a German and a Swedish national were arrested.

On Monday, Turkey’s state prosecutor had requested the court imprison the detainees pending a trial on charges of "membership to a terrorist organization," Reuters reported.

Amnesty’s Secretary General Salil Shetty argued the arrested activists were victims of the state's oppressive behavior.

“Turkish prosecutors have had 12 days to establish the obvious: that these 10 activists are innocent,” he said.

“The decision to proceed shows that truth and justice have become total strangers in Turkey,” Shetty continued.

“This is not a legitimate investigation; this is a politically motivated witch-hunt that charts a frightening future for rights in Turkey,” he added.

Authorities have since ordered four of the activists to be released, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily Newspaper.

The court barred those released from traveling outside Turkey and required them to check in with local police regularly

The imprisonment of the Amnesty officials is believed to be a crackdown following last July’s failed military coup.

Prosecutors charged Eser with having ties to members of US-backed Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen’s movement, which the Turkish government blames for the July 2016 coup attempt.

Editing by G.H. Renaud