Turkey: Global figures join call to “end gross injustice” as trial of Amnesty Chair and Director and other rights activists resumes

More than 70 renowned cultural and political figures have come together to demand that Turkish authorities drop trumped-up terrorism charges against 11 human rights defenders, including Amnesty International’s Turkey Director and Chair.

The call made by more than 30 politicians and scores of artists – including Edward Snowden, Sting, Ai Weiwei, Anish Kapoor, Catherine Deneuve, Angélique Kidjo – comes as the trial of the 11 resumes in Istanbul on charges which carry jail terms of up to 15 years.

We are witnessing a massive groundswell of opinion against what is clearly a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country

Aakar Patel, Amnesty International, India

“We are proud to add our voices to the global demand to end this gross injustice and to immediately and unconditionally release Taner Kılıç from jail,” they write in the letter.

“When human rights defenders are silenced, all our rights are put at risk. They are the ones that stand up for us. Now we must stand up for them.”

Amnesty International’s Turkey Chair, Taner Kılıç, was detained on 6 June and sent to jail three days later, where he has been ever since. Ten other activists, including İdil Eser, the Director of Amnesty Turkey, were detained a month later. Seven of them were remanded in Turkey’s highest security Silivri prison, with one remanded at Ankara’s Sincan Prison. The eight were held for almost four months and released last month at their first hearing. They are all accused of “membership of a terrorist organization”.

The charges against the 11 include outlandish claims that standard human rights work amounts to ‘assisting terrorist organizations’.

Taner Kılıç is alleged to have downloaded and used the ByLock messaging application, which the prosecution has claimed was used by the Gülen movement to communicate with each other. However, two independent forensic analyses of Taner’s phone commissioned by Amnesty International found that there is no trace of ByLock ever having been on his phone. So far, the prosecution have not provided any evidence to prove their claim. The forensic expert who prepared the detailed reports is expected to appear at the trial on 22 November.

The signatories join a long list of governments, institutions and political figures that have demanded Taner’s release including the European Commission, the US State Department, UN officials, Angela Merkel and the German government as well as the Austrian, Irish and Belgian governments.

he time has come for Taner to be released and for the charges against him and the Istanbul 10 to be dropped

Fernando Nabais da Furriela, Amnesty International, Brazil

More than 20 British MPs have so far signed a parliamentary motion tabled last week calling for the immediate release of Taner and the dropping of charges against the 11. This follows similar calls last month by 22 members of the US Congress including 14 Senators as well as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, and the Chair of the Human Rights Committee in the European Parliament, Pier Antonio Panzeri.

“What we are witnessing is a massive groundswell of opinion against what is clearly a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country,” said Aakar Patel, the Director of Amnesty India, who is attending the trial.

“This trial has served not only to remind people of the importance of human rights, but the vital role played by those that defend them. The time has come for Taner to be released and for the charges against him and the Istanbul 10 to be dropped,” said Fernando Nabais da Furriela, the Chair of Amnesty International Brazil, who is also attending the trial.

For Amnesty International’s analysis of the cases visit: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/7329/2017/en/ and https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/7329/2017/en/

Background

The Istanbul 10 were attending a workshop on wellbeing and digital security on 5 July when police raided the building and detained them all. On 4 October an Istanbul prosecutor filed an indictment against the so-called Istanbul 10 and Taner Kılıç, who, it claims was aware of preparations for the Büyükada workshop and was in contact with İdil and another of the defendants. At his trial on 26 October, the judge accepted the prosecutor’s application to join Taner’s case with the case against the other 10 human rights defenders.

The ten human rights defenders are İdil Eser (Amnesty International), Günal Kurşun (Human Rights Agenda Association), Özlem Dalkıran (Citizens’ Assembly), Veli Acu (Human Rights Agenda Association), Ali Gharavi (IT strategy consultant), Peter Steudtner (non-violence and wellbeing trainer) and İlknur Üstün (Women’s Coalition), Nalan Erkem,(Citizens Assembly), Şeyhmus Özbekli (Rights Initiative) and Nejat Taştan (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights).

More than 700,000 people have signed Amnesty International actions calling for the release of Taner and the dropping of the charges against the Istanbul 10.

Open letter ahead of the upcoming trial of Taner Kılıç and the Istanbul 10

On Wednesday the trial of 11 human rights defenders including Taner Kılıç, and İdil Eser the chair and director of Amnesty International Turkey, will resume in Istanbul.

The 11 face outlandish “terrorism” charges in what can only be described as a politically motivated prosecution aimed at silencing critical voices within the country. If convicted they could face jail terms of up to 15 years. This sends a chilling message not just to people in Turkey but around the world.

With many people unfairly imprisoned as part of the crackdown following the bloody coup attempt in Turkey – including journalists, lawyers and civil society leaders – some may ask why focus on these 11 people? The answer is simple: when human rights defenders are silenced all our rights are put at risk. They are the ones that stand up for us. Now we must stand up for them.

We are proud to add our voices to the global demand to end this gross injustice and to immediately and unconditionally release Taner Kılıç from jail.

The Turkish authorities must know that the eyes of the world will be on Istanbul’s central court for this trial. We will not stay silent. Defending human rights is not a crime.

Signed

Edward Snowden, human rights defender

Sting, musician

Catherine Deneuve, actor

Ai Weiwei, artist

Angélique Kidjo, musician

Anish Kapoor, artist

Peter Gabriel, musician

Francois Morel, actor

Elif Shafak, author

Bianca Jagger, human rights activist

Juliet Stevenson, actor

Indira Varma, actor (Game of Thrones)

Mogens Lykketoft MP, ex-President of the UN General Assembly

Nacho Sanchez Amor, OSCE Human Rights Committee Chair

Mirosław Wyrzykowski, Constitutional judge, Poland

Dr. Shashi Tharoor MP (former UN Under-Secretary General)

Ryan Gage, actor

Pasha Bocarie, actor

Nazanin Boniadi, actor

HK, musician

C 215, artist

Lucas Belvaux, film maker

Laurent Gaudé, writer

El Moustach/Hicham Gaoua, artist  

Said Salhi, Vice president of LADDH (Algeria)

Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General

Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch

Claude Rolin MP (Belgium)

Tanita Tikaram, musician

Mohamed Fahmy, journalist

Peter Greste, journalist

Mark Oakley, Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral

Peter Tatchell, human rights defender

Natacha Régnier, actor  

Franck Pavloff, writer

Emily Loizeau, musician

Romain Goupil, film director

Nicolas Lambert, comedian

Clotilde Courau, comedian

André Dahmer, cartoonist

Luiz Eduardo Soares, anthropologist and writer

Sérgio Haddad, professor

Flávia Oliveira, journalist

Ricardo Henriques, economist

Sueli Carneiro, philosopher

Pilar del Río, president of the José Saramago Foundation

Anti-Flag – Punk Rock group

David Lammy MP (UK)

Caroline Lucas MP (UK)

Stephen McCabe MP (UK)

Tom Brake MP (UK)

Catherine West MP (UK)

Carol Monaghan MP (UK

Joan Ryan MP (UK)

Christopher Stephens MP (UK)

Kevin Brennan MP (UK)

Jim Cunningham MP (UK)

Rosie Cooper MP (UK)

Eleanor Smith MP (UK)

Wes Streeting MP (UK)

Stephen Doughty MP (UK)

Daniel Zeichner MP (UK)

Stephen Kinnock MP (UK)

Geraint Davies MP (UK)

Marie Rimmer MP (UK)

Grahame Morris MP (UK)

Antoinette Sandbach MP (UK)

Madeleine Moon MP (UK)

Tonia Antoniazzi MP (UK)

Preet Gill MP (UK)

Phillipa Whitford MP (UK)

Sarah Wollaston MP (UK)

Gareth Thomas MP (UK)

Jo Stevens MP (UK)

Kerry McCarthy MP (UK)

Richard Burden MP (UK)

Olivier Py, France

Paul Rondin, France

Monika Płatek, President of the Polish Association for Legal Education

Adam Bodnar, former board of United Nations Fund for Victims of Torture

Mikołaj Pietrzak, former Chair of the Human Rights Council of the Polish Bar Council

Krzysztof Śmiszek, co-founder of Polish Society of Anti-Discrimination Law

UK Motion signed by British parliamentarians. Tabled on 15 November 2017 – https://www.parliament.uk/edm/2017-19/546

Tonia Antoniazzi, Hilary Benn, Peter Bottomley, Tom Brake, Tim Farron, Hugh Gaffney, Stephen Gethins, Helen Hayes, Lady Hermon, David Lammy. Clive Lewis, Caroline Lucas, Steve McCabe, Ian Mearns, Carol Monaghan, Joan Ryan, Jim Shannon, Dennis Skinner, Andy Slaughter, Chrisotpher Stephens, Jo Swinson, Catherine West.  

Letter signed by 14 US Senators, 24 October 2017

Senators John McCain, Marco Rubio, John Cornyn, Bernie Sanders, Martin Heinreich, Richard Durbin, Benjamin Cardin, Christopher Coons, Chris Van Hollen, John Boozman, Edward Markey, Tammy Baldwin, Robert Menendez, Jeanne Shaheen

https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/mccain-menendez-letter-to-president-trump-re-turkey-s-edrogan-10-25-17-1.pdf

Letter signed by 8 members of the US Congress, 16 October 2017

Sen Robert F Wicker, Rep Christopher H Smith, Sen Benjamin L Cardin,

Rep Alcee L Hastings, Sen Marco Rubio, Rep Randy Hultgren, Sen Thom Tillis, Reb Robert B Aderholt, Rep Gwen Moore, Rep Sheila Jackson Lee

https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20171016-Helsinki-Comm-Letter-to-President-Erdogan-FINAL.pdf

Letter signed by Hollywood stars – 12 October 2017

Zoë Kravitz, Nazanin Boniadi, Don Cheadle, Marisa Tomei, Adam McKay, Paul Haggis, Joshua Malina, Fisher Stevens, Claire Danes, Ben Stiller, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Farrell, Eva Orner, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Roth, Kathy Najimy, Mark Ruffalo, Zach Galifianakis, Bruce Cohen, Shira Piven, Mike White, Tim Kring, and James McAvoy

https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/celebrities-call-on-turkey-to-release-amnesty-director-and-chair-still-in-jail-after-100-days/

A number of well-known UK personalities also supported the campaign for the release of Taner and the Istanbul 10 over previous months including:

Graham Linehan, Ken Loach, Rae Morris, Stephen Fry, Sir Patrick Stewart, Simon Rix, Paul Bettany, David Shrigley, Hollie McNish, Pasha Bocarie