Amnesty says Turkish court reverses decision to release group’s local chair

1 Feb, 2018 14:54 / Updated 6 years ago

A Turkish court on Thursday overturned its decision to release the chairman of the local arm of Amnesty International, the rights group said. On Wednesday, an Istanbul penal court ordered the conditional release of Taner Kilic, who has been in prison since June on terrorism charges. Prosecutors say he downloaded ByLock, a messaging app allegedly used by followers of the Muslim cleric Turkey blames for a 2016 coup attempt. Kilic was due to be released while the trial against him and 10 other human rights activists on terrorism-related charges continues. All 11 deny the charges, Reuters said. The Istanbul court on Thursday reversed its decision after an appeal by a prosecutor, according to Amnesty. The group’s secretary general, Salil Shetty, said Kilic’s wife and daughters had waited all day by the prison gates to greet him.