Responding to news that Idil Eser, Director of Amnesty International Turkey, seven other human rights activists and two IT trainers, are being investigated for membership of an armed terrorist organisation, Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

“The absurdity of these accusations against Idil Eser and the nine others cannot disguise the very grave nature of this attack on some of the most prominent civil society organisations in Turkey.

“Their spurious detention while attending a routine workshop was bad enough: that they are now being investigated for membership of an armed terrorist organisation beggars belief.

“If anyone was still in doubt of the endgame of Turkey’s post-coup crackdown, they should not be now. There is to be no civil society, no criticism and no accountability in Erdoğan’s Turkey.”

“If world leaders meeting at the G20 fail to stand up for Turkey’s beleaguered civil society now, there may be nothing left of it by the time the next summit comes around.

“Idil’s detention comes less than a month after the chair of Amnesty International Turkey, Taner Kılıç, was remanded in custody also without valid grounds. This is the first time in our history that Amnesty International has a director and chair from a single country both behind bars. They, along with all other detained human rights defenders, must be immediately and unconditionally released.”

Background

At 10am on 5 July, eight human rights defenders, including Amnesty International’s Turkey Director Idil Eser and two international trainers were detained by police at a hotel in Büyükada, Istanbul, where they were attending a workshop.

All the detainees were denied access to lawyers for more than 28 hours, in contravention of Turkish law, which states a maximum time of 24 hours. The group were also denied the right to contact family members, again in contravention of Turkish law.

The authorities refused to confirm where the human rights defenders were being held until around 3pm on 6 July.

Idil Eser is being held at a police station in Maltepe, on the outskirts of Istanbul, along with İlknur Üstün of the Women’s Coalition. The remaining human rights defenders are being held at three other locations on the outskirts of Istanbul. Lawyers were granted access to the seven on Thursday afternoon.

The state of emergency put in place after last year’s failed coup attempt allows for seven days of pre-charge detention, extendable for a further seven days on the request of the prosecutor.

In addition to Idil Eser and İlknur Üstün the six human rights defenders detained are: Günal Kurşun, lawyer, Human Rights Agenda Association, Nalan Erkem, Lawyer, Citizens’ Assembly, Nejat Taştan, Equal Rights Watch Association , Özlem Dalkıran, Citizens’ Assembly, Şeyhmuz Özbekli, lawyer, and Veli Acu, Human Rights Agenda Association.

Two foreign trainers – a German and a Swedish national – are still being held on the island and have been granted access to a lawyer.

The Turkish authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all 10 detainees.

These detentions come less than a month after Amnesty International’s Turkey chair, Taner Kılıç, was remanded in prison custody on baseless charges.

Responding to the news that Idil Eser, Director of Amnesty International Turkey, was detained on Wednesday along with seven other human rights defenders and two trainers during a digital security and information management workshop in Büyükada, Istanbul, Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

“We are profoundly disturbed and outraged that some of Turkey’s leading human rights defenders, including the Director of Amnesty International Turkey should have been detained so blatantly without cause.

“Her incommunicado detention and that of the other human rights defenders attending a routine training event, is a grotesque abuse of power and highlights the precarious situation facing human rights activists in the country. Idil Eser and those detained with her, must be immediately and unconditionally released.

“World leaders currently sitting in Hamburg have been remarkably tolerant of Turkey’s human rights meltdown. With President Erdoğan now in their midst, this would be a good time to speak out firmly and call for the release of all human rights defenders currently behind bars.”

Background

The whereabouts of Idil Eser and the others detained alongside her, are currently unknown.

Idil Eser and the other detainees, are understood to have been denied access to lawyers, which police are entitled to do for 24 hours, and the right to contact a family member, which must be granted immediately.

Police have told lawyers that they will be given information at 2.30pm today.

In addition to Idil Eser, the seven human rights defenders detained were: İlknur Üstün, Women’s Coalition, İdil Eser, Amnesty International, Günal Kurşun , lawyer, Human Rights Agenda Association, Nalan Erkem, Lawyer, Citizens Assembly, Nejat Taştan, Equal Rights Watch Association , Özlem Dalkıran, Citizens’ Assembly, Şeyhmuz Özbekli, lawyer, Veli Acu, Human Rights Agenda Association.

Two foreign trainers – a German and a Swedish national – as well as the hotel owner, were also detained.

These detentions come less than a month after Amnesty International’s Turkey chair, Taner Kiliç, was remanded in prison custody on baseless charges.

The Chinese authorities are demonstrating new-depths of cruelty by preventing Liu Xiaobo from leaving the country to receive urgent medical treatment for his late-stage liver cancer.

On Wednesday, the authorities announced medical experts from Germany and the US will be invited to China to assist with the treatment of the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The move appears in part an attempt to limit international criticism, as the authorities continue to refuse to grant Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia’s wish to travel abroad to receive treatment.

“Time is running out for Liu Xiaobo. It is not too late for the authorities to end this cruel farce. They must let Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, travel abroad to get the medical treatment he so desperately needs.”

Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Time is running out for Liu Xiaobo. It is not too late for the authorities to end this cruel farce. They must let Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, travel abroad to get the medical treatment he so desperately needs,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

The pro-democracy activist and former university lecturer was placed on medical parole last Monday and transferred to a hospital in Shenyang municipality in north-east China. His wife Liu Xia was able to reunite with him last week. The authorities’ claim that Liu Xiaobo is too ill to travel is disputed by his family.

Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power”, after he co-signed a call for political reform in China, known as Charter 08. Amnesty International recognized him as a Prisoner of Conscience, detained solely for exercising his human rights.

In an attempt to impose a news blackout on Liu Xiaobo after he obtained the Nobel Peace prize in 2010, the Chinese authorities systematically harassed and intimidated his family and supporters. Liu Xia has been unlawfully placed under house arrest for the past seven years to prevent her from communicating with the outside world.

Among growing international condemnation of China’s treatment of Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia several foreign governments have offered to transfer and treat Liu abroad. Last Thursday, Amnesty International joined 153 other Nobel Prize Winners in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for the couple to be allowed to travel abroad.

“Liu Xiaobo is an inspiring figure whose only crime was to speak truth to power. He should never have spent a single day in jail, an injustice made even more tragic by the fact that his cancer was not diagnosed until it reached terminal phase. President Xi Jinping must do the right thing and order his immediate release,” said Salil Shetty.

The soaring death toll in the central Mediterranean and the horrific abuses faced by thousands of refugees and migrants in Libyan detention centres are clearly linked to failing EU policies.

A perfect storm: The failure of European policies in the Central Mediterranean finds that by ceding the lion’s share of responsibility for search and rescue to NGOs and by increasing cooperation with the Libyan coastguard, European governments are failing to prevent drownings and turning a blind eye to abuse, including torture and rape.

EU Ministers meeting in Tallinn today are set to discuss new proposals that will make a dire situation worse.

“Rather than acting to save lives and offer protection, European Ministers meeting today are shamelessly prioritising reckless deals with Libya in a desperate bid to prevent refugees and migrants from reaching Italy,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe Director.

“European states have progressively turned their backs on a search and rescue strategy that was reducing mortality at sea in favour of one that has seen thousands drown and left desperate men, women and children trapped in Libya, exposed to horrific abuses.”

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe Director

“European states have progressively turned their backs on a search and rescue strategy that was reducing mortality at sea in favour of one that has seen thousands drown and left desperate men, women and children trapped in Libya, exposed to horrific abuses.”

Measures implemented by EU leaders to strengthen search and rescue capacity in the central Mediterranean in April 2015 dramatically decreased deaths at sea. But this priority, which saw several countries provide more rescue boats closer to Libyan territorial waters, was short-lived.

Instead, EU governments have shifted their focus to disrupting smugglers and preventing departures of boats from Libya: a failing strategy that has led to ever more dangerous crossings and a threefold increase in the death-rate from 0.89% in the second half of 2015 to 2.7% in 2017.

Changes to smugglers’ practices and an increasing use of unseaworthy boats with a complete lack of safety equipment on board have made the sea crossing even more unsafe.

But despite a spike in deaths – more than 2,000 since January – the EU is failing to deploy an adequately resourced and dedicated humanitarian operation near Libyan territorial waters. Instead it is focusing on strengthening the abilities of the Libyan coastguard to better prevent departures and perform interceptions.

Interceptions by the Libyan coastguard often put refugees and migrants at risk. Their operational techniques do not meet basic safety standards and can lead to panic and catastrophic capsizing.

There are also serious allegations that members of the coastguard collude with smugglers and evidence that they abuse migrants. Members of the Libyan coastguard have shot guns towards boats and a UN report last month reported that they were “directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms”.

One Nigerian man stranded with 140 others on a boat that was taking on water for nine hours told Amnesty International. “All of us were praying. When I saw the lights [of the rescue boat] I thought: please, please, not the Libyan police.”

“We were 170, on a rubber boat. We were taken back to prison and we were asked for more money. They told us: ‘If you pay, nobody will stop you this time, because we are the coastguard’…Libyan prisons are just hell.”

A Bangladeshi man told Amnesty International what happened after he had been picked up by the Libyan coastguard. “We were 170, on a rubber boat. We were taken back to prison and we were asked for more money. They told us: ‘If you pay, nobody will stop you this time, because we are the coastguard’…Libyan prisons are just hell.”

EU cooperation with and training of the Libyan coastguard is currently taking place without an adequate accountability framework or system to monitor their conduct and performance.

Those rescued by the coastguard are returned to Libya where they are routinely detained and tortured and where no asylum law or system exist. Those trapped in Libya are vulnerable to human rights violations and abuses including killings, torture, rape, kidnappings, forced labour, and arbitrary and indefinite detention in cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions.

One man from Gambia told Amnesty International: “I spent three months in prison…You sleep like sardines in the cell, on your side, because there is no space. They beat you if you do not lie down in the right way. The water for the toilet was also for drinking…I saw three people being tortured while I was in prison. One boy died during torture…They beat prisoners with pipes. I was beaten at night.”

Cooperation agreements aimed at improving the Libyan coastguards search and rescue capacity must be made conditional on rapid improvements in the quality of interventions and real accountability for abuses they are found responsible for. They should also insist on the transfer of those rescued to vessels that will take them to EU countries where their safety and protection needs can be guaranteed.

“If the second half of this year continues as the first and urgent action is not taken, 2017 looks set to become the deadliest year for the deadliest migration route in the world. The EU must rethink its cooperation with Libya’s woefully dysfunctional coastguard and deploy more vessels where they are desperately needed,” said John Dalhuisen.

“Ultimately the only sustainable and humane way to reduce the numbers risking such horrific journeys is to open more safe and legal routes for migrants and refugees to reach Europe.”