{"id":53341,"date":"2026-04-01T14:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/53341\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T14:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:48:07","slug":"un-special-rapporteurs-urge-turkey-to-stop-targeting-rights-defenders-on-terrorism-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/53341\/","title":{"rendered":"UN special rapporteurs urge Turkey to stop targeting rights defenders on terrorism charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Five UN special rapporteurs have urged Turkey to stop using broad counterterrorism laws to prosecute human rights defenders and lawyers, warning that the legislation is being used to criminalize legitimate rights advocacy and restrict fundamental freedoms.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> issued on Tuesday, the rapporteurs said Turkish authorities were pursuing charges such as \u201cfinancing terrorism\u201d and \u201cmembership in a terrorist organization\u201d against rights defenders and lawyers, with the Human Rights Association (\u0130HD) identified as a particular target.<\/p>\n

The experts said such legislation must not be used \u201cto arbitrarily restrict the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, peaceful assembly, and association,\u201d and called on Turkish authorities \u201cto end the criminalization of human rights defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

They raised concerns about several recent cases involving \u0130HD members, including Hatice Onaran<\/a>, who was convicted in 2024 for \u201cviolating the law on financing terrorism\u201d after sending small amounts of money to poor and sick prisoners, while four other members \u2014 Osman S\u00fczen, Suna Bilgin<\/a>, Tu\u011fba Kahraman and Mehmet Acettin<\/a> \u2014 were charged with membership in a terrorist organization. Another \u0130HD member, \u0130smail Boraz, was investigated for \u201cparticipating in an unlawful assembly,\u201d after taking part in a teachers union protest.<\/p>\n

Citing the case of lawyer Sabri G\u00fcngen<\/a>, who was assaulted by police while meeting with a client, the experts said ensuring the safety of lawyers is a state obligation.<\/p>\n

The rapporteurs renewed their call for Turkey to revise its counterterrorism legislation and adopt a precise definition of terrorism in line with the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination.<\/p>\n

They added that misuse of counterterrorism laws was the subject of previous communications with Turkish authorities in 2020<\/a> and 2023<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statement was signed by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Ben Saul,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health Tlaleng Mofokeng and Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Gina Romero.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1986, the Ankara-based \u0130HD is one of Turkey\u2019s oldest human rights organizations.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s use of counterterrorism laws against human rights defenders, lawyers and opposition figures has attracted sustained criticism from international bodies including the United Nations<\/a>, the European Union<\/a> and the Council of Europe<\/a>, which have urged Ankara to end violations of international human rights standards and restore key legal safeguards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five UN special rapporteurs have urged Turkey to stop using broad counterterrorism laws to prosecute human rights defenders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[29511,11968,2936,29512,29513,27546,29514,29515,29516,29517,29518,429,29519,431,29520,131,132,29521,29522,155,28010,29523],"class_list":{"0":"post-53341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-ben-saul","9":"tag-freedom-of-expression","10":"tag-freedom-of-peaceful-assembly","11":"tag-gina-romero","12":"tag-hatice-onaran","13":"tag-human-rights-association-ihd","14":"tag-human-rights-defender","15":"tag-ismail-boraz","16":"tag-margaret-satterthwaite","17":"tag-mary-lawlor","18":"tag-mehmet-acettin","19":"tag-oppression","20":"tag-osman-suzen","21":"tag-rule-of-law","22":"tag-sabri-gungen","23":"tag-stockholm","24":"tag-sweden","25":"tag-tlaleng-mofokeng","26":"tag-tugba-kahraman","27":"tag-turkey","28":"tag-turkeys-counterterrorism-law","29":"tag-un-special-rapporteurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116330004901042553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}