On January 31, the Chair of Amnesty Turkey, Taner Kilic, will appear in court. This will be the third hearing in his case. Taner has been charged with serious crimes, namely membership in a terrorist organization, based on a ridiculous charge- that he may have had a certain app installed on his phone. Others charged with terrorism because they were also accused of having the same app installed on their phone have had their cases dismissed. Not only does Taner continue to face false charges based on flimsy evidence, he remains in pre-trial detention.

Taner is not the only human rights defender who has been falsely accused of membership in a terrorist organization. A month after Taner’s arrest, the Director of Amnesty Turkey, Idil Eser, was arrested along with 9 other human rights workers (later dubbed the Istanbul 10) on the same trumped up charges. All 10 have been released pending trial.

Click here to sign a petition telling the Turkish government that the charges against Taner, Idil, and the other members of the Istanbul 10 are a gross violation of justice. All charges must be dropped and Taner must be released immediately.