A Turkish court on July 18 ordered that six activists including Amnesty International's Turkey director remain in custody for allegedly aiding a "terror" group.
İdil Eser, head of Amnesty in Turkey, was detained on July 5 with seven activists and German and Swedish trainers during a digital security and information management workshop on an island south of İstanbul.
"The six jailed 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) and Peter Steudtner (non-violence and well-being trainer)," Amnesty said in a press release Tuesday.
Prosecutors accuse them of "committing a crime in the name of a terror organisation without being a member," the watchdog said.
In a decision, the court in İstanbul decided to release four other activists from custody pending the outcome of a trial but barred them from travelling abroad. They will also have to report regularly to police.
Berlin slammed as "unjustified" the detention of the German national. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday sharply criticised Turkey's detention of German human rights activist Peter Steudtner as "absolutely unjustified", saying the German government would do all it could to secure his release.
"We are firmly convinced that this arrest is absolutely unjustified. We, as the German government, condemn it. We declare our solidarity with him and all the others arrested. And the German government will do all it can, on all levels, to secure his release," Merkel said at a ceremony.
