Turkish authorities jailed the local chairman of Amnesty International pending trial over charges of “membership of a terrorist organisation”, as part a crackdown following last July’s failed coup attempt, the rights group said. Taner Kilic, along with 22 other lawyers in the Aegean coastal province of Izmir, was detained on Tuesday for suspected links to the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara blames for last year’s failed coup. Amnesty also said eight of the 22 lawyers had been remanded in custody, six remained in detention and seven were awaiting court rulings. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the coup and condemned it. Turkish authorities were not immediately available for comment, but officials have said the crackdown is necessary due to the gravity of the coup attempt, in which 240 people were killed on July 15.

Source: Egypt Independent June 10, 2017 13:18 UTC