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Urgent: Amnesty International Director has been detained | ||||||
Dear friends, As the head of Amnesty International USA, I am deeply troubled to tell you that another of our colleagues in Turkey has been apprehended. A few weeks ago, we shared that the Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, Taner Kiliç, had been detained. Now I write with news that Idil Eser, the Director of Amnesty International Turkey, has also been arrested. For the first time in our history, a director and a chair in a single country are being held behind bars, simply for standing up for human rights. Take action to free Idil On Wednesday July 5th, Turkish authorities detained Amnesty’s country director, Idil Eser, along with eight other human rights activists and two foreign trainers as part of a raid on a human rights workshop that Idil was attending. Now, five days later, Idil is still in detention and the government in Turkey has failed to provide any credible evidence for these charges. Stand with Idil and tell Turkey to immediately release her and all other human rights defenders “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 organizations in Turkey. 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.” – Salil Shetty, AI Secretary General. We must call on the Turkish authorities to immediately release Idil This is bigger than Amnesty International, and Idil’s imprisonment is just another sign of the current human rights situation in Turkey. Following the failed coup attempt last year, over 50,000 people have been arrested and at least 130 media outlets have been closed down, along with 150 journalists who have been detained. These attacks on human rights cannot go unnoticed and we must stand up for those that tirelessly stand up for others. Please join me in taking action. Thank you for your support, Margaret Huang, Executive Director Amnesty International USA | ||||||
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