- Dappa Maharajah
AMNESTY International (AI) has condemned the arbitrary arrest of the Chairman of Amnesty International Turkey and longstanding human rights defender, Taner Kılıç, by the Turkish government for trumped up charges of terrorism.
This was contained in a mail sent to The Polity News in Akure yesterday by AI Deputy Director of Campaigns (EU, Balkans, Turkey), Mr. Fotis Filippou, urging international intervention in his unconditional release.
Fotis disclosed that Tamer was taken from his home last week, and with 22 other lawyers, were clamped into police custody without substantial evidence against them.
According to him, Taner, a respected Human Rights activist with AI for 15 years, has become the latest victim of the Turkish government’s sweeping purge of those they suspected to be part of the Fethullah Gülen movement.
“Taner was then brought before a prosecutor and charged with being a member of the “Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization” which the authorities blame for last year’s attempted coup.
“Taner vehemently denies being part of this organization and, in fact, has been critical of its role in Turkey.
“Now, he is being held in detention pending trial. His detention is further proof of just how widespread and arbitrary Turkey’s post-coup crackdown has become,” he said.
The AI Director, however, mentioned that the prosecutor claimed that ByLock, a secure mobile messaging application, that the authorities said was used by members of the “Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization” had been discovered on Taner’s phone.
“So far, this is the sole piece of information provided to substantiate the charge. Taner denies that he downloaded or used ByLock, or being a member of the organization.”
“This setback to human right defenders takes place in the context of an escalating crackdown on human rights by the Turkish authorities,” Fotis added, lamenting the repressive tendencies of the Turkish authorities.
“Tens of thousands of public sector employees have been dismissed and hundreds of journalists and media workers detained. Hundreds of media outlets and NGOs have been shut down.”
—
