The United States has condemned the arrests of activists in Turkey and called on the government in Ankara to immediately free the detained, US Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters in a briefing on July 18.
"The United States strongly condemns the arrest of six respected human rights activists, and calls for their immediate release," Nauert said. "Prosecutions like this with little evidence or transparency undermine Turkey’s rule of law and the country’s obligations to respect individual rights."
A Turkish court ordered that six human rights activists are detained on suspicion of preparing the military coup of July 15, 2016, the watchdog said in a press release Tuesday. The local director of Amnesty International, İdil Eser, is among the six detained activists.
The spokesperson added that the United States will continue to "keep an eye" on the situation in Turkey.
İdil Eser, head of Amnesty in Turkey, was jailed with 5 activists, including German and Swedish trainers, during a digital security and information management workshop on an island south of İstanbul.
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.
