A Turkish court on Thursday ruled that Amnesty International’s Turkey chairman Taner Kilic remain jailed pending a verdict in his trial a day after a separate court released eight other human rights activists on bail, the rights organization said. Taner Kilic, was imprisoned in June, accused of links to cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey says orchestrated last year’s failed coup attempt. Kilic is accused of using an encrypted mobile messaging application allegedly employed by Gulen’s network. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Germany would continue fighting for all of their release, but called Steudtner’s release Wednesday night “a first sign” relations were improving. He told Der Spiegel magazine that former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had helped negotiate Steudtner’s release.

Source: Egypt Independent October 26, 2017 13:41 UTC