Here is our latest , slightly shorter than usual, newsletter with updates and actions.
TÜRKİYE
Invitation to talk by speaker from Human Rights Solidarity 7.30 pm 11 May
The Maidstone, Medway and Swale Group are inviting activists to join them online or in person to hear Kerim Balci from the organisation Human Rights Solidarity speak about human rights in Turkey. Please see a short biography below.
The meeting is in hybrid format and so people can take part online or in person. It will take place from 7:30pm on 11 May and the presentation and discussion will last about one hour.
Those wishing to join the meeting online should request a link by email at mmands.amnestygroup@gmail.com. The link will be sent out on the morning of the meeting.
In case anyone is in a position to join in person, the meeting will take place at the Maidstone Community Support Centre, 39-48 Marsham Street, Maidstone ME14 1HH.
Kerim Balci is the Director of Continuing Education at Respect Gratuate School in the US. Apart from his administrative role in Respect, he teaches topics like Islamic Logic, Hermeneutics, Said Nursi’s writings and the thought of Fethullah Gulen. Balci lives in London, where he leads the international human rights work of the Human Rights Solidarity, a British charity on human rights, immigrant rights and integration. Kerim served as the editor in chief of Turkish Review, a semi-academic journal on Turkey and Turkish politics, and as a columnist at Zaman and Today’s Zaman dailies in Turkey. He published pieces in Quartz, Miami Herald, Oasis, The Atlantic, Dawn and others. Kerim has edited a book named Whose War? in Turkish dealing with the Iraqi War, published an album called Ottoman Jerusalem in Photographs (IRCICA, Istanbul, 2009, Published in Turkish, English and Arabic.) and another album with modern photographs of the city. Kerim contributes to the work of Dialogue Society with occasional lectures on dialogue in Islam and the philosophy of dialogue.
UN experts urge Türkiye to end criminalisation of human rights defenders and lawyers
On 31 March 2026 Special Rapporteurs appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a statement calling for the continued criminalisation of human rights defenders and lawyers in Türkiye to cease.
“The charges human rights defenders face are mostly based on anti-terrorism laws,” the experts said. “Members of a prominent human rights organisation, the Human Rights Association (İHD), have clearly been singled out.”
İHD member, Hatice Onaran, was in 2024 convicted of “violating the law on financing terrorism” for providing small sums of money, in line with prison regulations, to support the basic needs of unwell and financially incapacitated prisoners, including those convicted of terrorism-related offenses in allegedly unfair trials. She was sentenced to four years and two months in prison. She was released on 14 February 2026 for six months on medical grounds.
İHD lawyers Osman Süzen and Suna Bilgin were charged with membership of an armed terrorist organisation. Bilgin was sentenced last December to six years and three months in prison in relation to her work defending former members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organisation. Süzen was acquitted of all charges.
“We are concerned that Ms. Bilgin’s conviction is linked to her work as a lawyer, especially since last month two more İHD members, Ms. Tuğba Kahraman and Mr. Mehmet Acettin, were charged in identical cases,” the experts said.
A sixth İHD member, Ismail Boyraz, is under investigation for ‘participating in an unlawful assembly’ after he joined a teachers union protest in Ankara in May 2024.
Another human rights lawyer, Sabri Güngen, was assaulted by police in March 2025 whilst filming his client who showed signs of ill-treatment while in custody. In late 2025 he was subjected to verbal abuse by a local prosecutor and further police violence.
“We have raised concerns with the authorities and pointed to State obligations to guarantee the safety of lawyers and their freedom from intimidation and forms of retaliation,” the experts said.
“We urge the Government of Türkiye to fully comply with international human rights law and to ensure that its anti‑terrorism legislation contains a precise and narrowly tailored definition of terrorism, consistent with the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and non‑discrimination,” they said. “Such legislation must not be used to arbitrarily restrict the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, peaceful assembly, and association, nor to enable or justify arbitrary detention. We further call on the authorities to end the criminalisation of human rights defenders.”
The misuse of anti-terrorism laws has been the subject of multiple letters from UN Special Procedures mandate holders to the Turkish Government in 2023 and 2020. The İHD has also been the subject of numerous communications to the Turkish authorities, most recently in 2022 and 2021. The most recent prosecution of its staff is linked to their work on prisoners’ rights, alleged torture cases and the promotion of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue.
LGBTI+ RIGHTS DEFENDERS ON TRIAL
URGENT ACTION
Emirhan Şaşmaz, Kerem Dikmen and nine other members of the executive and supervisory boards of Izmir-based Genç LGBTI+ association are on trial for violating the Law on Associations, a law that governs civil society groups and can be used to restrict their activities or even dissolve them.
They are also accused of having acted in contravention of Article 41 of the Constitution, which protects ‘’family and children’s rights.’’ In December 2025, in a separate lawsuit, the İzmir Civil Court of First Instance No. 3 ordered the dissolution of Genç LGBTI+, a decision now pending appeal.
These actions violate freedom of association and discriminate against LGBTI+ individuals. Amnesty is calling on Turkish authorities to drop all charges and uphold these individual’s human rights. Download Urgent Action
Greece
Stop criminalisation of Rescue !
Governments and their agents for example the coast guard should be rescuing any vessels in distress in their waters, but for the last 10 years European governments have tried to keep refugees out at all costs, including loss of life. As documented by the BBC and several Amnesty International reports Greek border personnel have been engaging in illegal pushbacks of refugees including families. In some instances, migrants and refugees have been killed.
NGO’s and volunteers have stepped in to rescue people and to monitor human rights violations at the borders. These compassionate human rights defenders are often criminalised by the state. These lengthy trials on often unfounded evidence is meant to have a chilling effect on human right defenders. In January, after years of campaigning by Amnesty and others, finally all charges against Sean Binder were dropped, Now another human rights defender is wanted by the Greek authorities. Please write letters and emails to the Ministry of Justice in Norway to stop Tommy Olson to be extradited to Greece.
URGENT ACTION
DO NOT EXTRADITE NGO WORKER
On 16 March 2026, Tommy Olsen, a Norwegian human rights worker and founder of the NGO Aegean Boat Report, was arrested at his home in Tromsø and remanded in custody following a European arrest warrant issued by the Greek authorities and subsequently released. The warrant stems from a 2022 Greek investigation into his work with refugees and migrants. He was released on 20 March but remains at risk of extradition to Greece, where he could face pre-trial detention for up to 18 months on charges that are not backed by evidence and stem from Greece’s misuse of anti-smuggling legislation. Amnesty International calls on Norwegian authorities not to extradite him, to uphold international human rights law and protect human rights work.
TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER
Minister of Justice, Astri Aas‑Hansen
Ministry of Justice
Postboks 8005 Dep
0030 Oslo
Norway
Fax: +47 22 24 60 40
Email: justisministerens_kontor@jd.dep.no / postmottak@jd.dep.no
Dear Minister Astri Aas‑Hansen,
I am writing to express deep concern about the arrest and proposed extradition to Greece of Tommy Olsen, a Norwegian human rights worker and founder of the NGO Aegean Boat Report. Tommy has spent years assisting refugees and migrants arriving in Greece, documenting cases of distress at sea, and reporting serious human rights violations against them, including illegal pushbacks at sea and land borders. His work is legitimate, humanitarian, and vital for holding authorities accountable.
On 11 February 2026, Tommy was informed by Norwegian authorities that a European arrest warrant had been issued against him following a 2022 investigation in Greece, on charges of membership of a criminal organization. These charges are not backed by evidence and are a misuse of anti-smuggling legislation. While he has been released pending his appeal hearing, Tommy remains at risk of extradition to Greece, where he could face pre-trial detention for up to 18 months.
The escalation in his case sends a concerning signal about the treatment of individuals carrying out essential human rights and humanitarian activities. It occurs as Greece intensifies its crackdown on civil society by explicitly targeting NGOs.
NGOs and humanitarian workers should be protected, not prosecuted through the misuse of smuggling laws. Norway should not be complicit in this. I call on you to refrain from extraditing Tommy Olsen to Greece, ensuring that he is not sent to be prosecuted for his human rights work and for helping people in need. Upholding Norway’s international human rights obligations in this case is critical to protecting civil society’s freedoms and opposing attempts to undermine those speaking out against human rights violations.
Yours sincerely,
Additional information
Tommy Olsen, 53 years old, a Norwegian human rights worker, founded Aegean Boat Report (ABR) in 2017 after volunteering with refugees and migrants on Lesvos. Alongside fellow human rights worker Panayote Dimitras, of the NGO Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), since 2022 he is being prosecuted on charges of facilitation of irregular entry and stay of people (smuggling) and membership of a criminal organization. Based on information available to Amnesty International, the charges against Olsen and Dimitras are not backed by evidence, are a misuse of smuggling legislation and target their legitimate exercise of human rights work, including assistance to migrants and refugees and the documentation of human rights violations against them by Greek authorities.
Since the creation of ABR, Tommy Olsen has monitored arrivals of refugees and migrants to the Greek islands through the Aegean, documented and reported situations of distress and Greece’s unlawful returns (so called “pushbacks”) at sea and land borders, and provided critical information to humanitarian organizations, service providers, and international media, helping ensure that people in distress receive assistance and that abuses are monitored and recorded. His co-defendant, Panayote Dimitras, with the Greek Helsinki monitor has similarly filed multiple complaints to Greek authorities concerning pushbacks allegations.
On 11 February 2026, Tommy Olsen was informed by Norwegian authorities that a European arrest warrant had been issued against him following a 2022 Greek investigation. On 16 March 2026, he was arrested at his home in Tromsø. A Norwegian court subsequently ruled that he could be extradited to Greece, a decision which he is appealing, and he was remanded in custody. He was subsequently released on 20 March pending his appeal hearing, but remains at risk of extradition. If extradited, he could face pre-trial detention for up to 18 months. Panayote Dimitras, who is a Greek citizen and based in Greece, was subjected to restrictive measures pending the trial, including a ban on leaving Greece that impacts his human rights work, and regular reporting requirements to the authorities.
The arrest and proposed extradition of Tommy Olsen and the ongoing criminal case against him and Dimitras, happens in a climate of growing hostility against civil society in Greece. Since 2018, Greek authorities have misused anti-smuggling and facilitation laws to criminalize humanitarian and solidarity work. Several people have faced criminal investigations and prosecution, while an untold number of migrants and refugees have experienced human rights violations both in the country and at its borders.
Previous cases, including that of Seán Binder and other people associated with the NGO ERCI, show how anti-smuggling laws are being misused to target humanitarian work. While defendants in this case were ultimately acquitted in January 2018, their investigation and prosecution lasted over 7 years, causing them significant personal and professional harm, while contributing to a chilling effect on civil society.
Amnesty International has clearly stated that Greek anti-smuggling legislation is not aligned to international standards and does not adequately protect human rights defenders from criminal prosecution. New rules introduced by Greece earlier in the year, which make membership of a registered migration NGO an aggravating factor in smuggling cases, create a dangerous and unjustified link between legitimate human rights work and criminal activities. It is imperative that Norway and other European countries are not complicit in attempts to criminalize those standing in solidarity with refugees and migrants and speaking out against violations of their rights.
PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Norwegian, English
You can also write in your own language.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 23 September 2026
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.
NAME AND PREFFERED PRONOUN: Tommy Olsen (he/him)
Hungary
Drop charges against Pécs Pride organiser: Géza Buzás-Hábel
On 9 March, the Pécs District Court suspended the procedure in the case of Géza and referred the case to the Constitutional Court (asking whether the anti-Pride ban law that entered into force in April 2025 is unconstitutional). The Constitutional Court now has 90 days to decide on the matter. AI Hungary’s predictions are that there are high chances for the Constitutional Court to, unfortunately, find the ban constitutional. AI Hungary posted this on FB about this development: https://www.facebook.com/amnestymagyarorszag/posts/pfbid0MBonxfDqRnrEztHpXhAfxDvxx6g261u4TS12w6CYr7aDpzZfZgrmFbSVoZ2TPgg6l.
For what concerns the Urgent Action live in support of Geza’s case, the development in court does not change things, as the Prosecutor’s Office can still drop the criminal charges against Geza. This means that sections are encouraged to continue campaigning on the case which so far has collected almost 60,000 actions.
Also, as further info, on 4 March the Pest Central District Court decided exactly the same way in the case against the mayor of Budapest who is also facing criminal charges under the anti-Pride law.
Please continue writing to
District Prosecution Office of Pécs Dr. István Takács Chief Prosecutor 7621 Pécs, Jókai utca 26., Hungary Fax: + 36 72-518-946 Email: pecs@mku.hu X: @ProsecutionHu
Urgent Action and sample letter can be found here :
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur27/0712/2026/en/
FROM THE EUROPE TEAM
Türkiye : Chris Ramsey
Central Europe: Lucja Jastrzebska
Western and Northern Europe: Jovana Bosnjak
South East Europe: Ulrike Schmidt
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