In a scene that could have been lifted from a Hollywood thriller, dozens of police raided a hotel on a picturesque island near Istanbul, seizing computers and phones and bundling 10 people into a van. The individuals and another man were arrested and charged with terrorism offenses. But they had committed no crime. They were prominent human rights activists and included two of my colleagues, İdil Eser, who was director of Amnesty International Turkey, and Taner Kılıç, its honorary chair. That was back in the summer of 2017. The activists spent many months in jail and two and a half years before the courts, and this week a judge will hand down the verdict. If convicted, they face jail terms of up to 15 years. The prosecution alleges that the gathering in the hotel where they were arrested was a “secret meeting to organize a Gezi-type uprising” to foment “chaos” in Turkey. In fact, it was a human rights workshop, and it was anything but secret—one of the participants had even posted a photo of the hotel on her Instagram account. “Where are you staying?” a friend posted beneath the photo. “At the Ascot Hotel,” she replied. It’s no coincidence… Read full this story
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My Colleagues' Case Is an Acid Test for What's Left of Turkey's Justice System | Opinion have 312 words, post on www.newsweek.com at February 18, 2020. This is cached page on CHUTEU. If you want remove this page, please contact us.