Turkey convicts rights activists of terror charges

A Turkish court on Friday convicted Amnesty International's former Turkey chairman Taner Kilic of membership in a terror organisation and sentenced him to more than six years in prison.

The court also convicted three other human rights activists - Gunal Kursun, Idil Eser and Ozlem Dalkiran - of charges of aiding a terror group, sentencing them to one year and one month prison terms each.

Seven other activists, German citizen Peter Steudtner and Swede Ali Gharavi, were acquitted of the charges.

Ten of the activists were detained in a police raid in July 2017, while attending a digital security training workshop on Buyukada island, off Istanbul.

The 11th activist, Kilic, was detained separately a month earlier in the city of Izmir.

Ten defendants were charged with aiding terrorist organisations, including the network led by a US-based cleric, which the Turkish government blames for the 2016 coup attempt and has designated as a terror group.

Kilic was accused of membership in cleric Fethullah Gulen's network.

Gulen denies allegations that he engineered the coup attempt.

Their trial heightened concerns about Turkey's treatment of human rights defenders and helped sour Turkey's relations with European nations, notably with Germany.

Amnesty International condemned the ruling as a "crushing blow for human rights and for justice" in Turkey.

"This is a dark day for Turkish justice. To see such trumped up, overtly political charges without any substance whatsoever, for people's life to be taken away in this way is just a disgrace", said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's Turkey researcher who observed the hearing.

The four convicted activists, who were released from jail pending the outcome, were expected to appeal the verdict.

All 11 defendants maintained their innocence throughout the trial.