It was the summer of 2017 when nine human rights defenders and two international experts were arrested in Turkey.

The arrest took place after a meeting on digital security. Swedish Ali Gharavi was invited as an expert.

All eleven were jailed with charges of terrorism-related crimes. According to the suspects, the meeting had a hidden agenda; to plan a coup d'état in Turkey.

- Today we have witnessed a parody of justice by gigantic dimensions. The verdict is a blow to not only the four convicted persons and their relatives but to all who believe in justice and that it should be possible to act for human rights in Turkey. But we continue to fight for these four and for the thousands of others who have also been imprisoned completely arbitrarily in Turkey, says Anna Lindenfors, Amnesty general secretary in Sweden, in a press release.

Several years in prison

Former President of Amnesty in Turkey, Taner Kılıç, is sentenced to six years and three months in prison for membership in a terrorist organization. Özlem Dalkıran, İdil Eser and Günal Kurşun are each sentenced to 25 months imprisonment each for assisting a terrorist organization.

- It's mixed emotions. We expected all eleven to be freed, but my dear colleagues received an absurd verdict. That page makes me angry. But at the same time, for me, it is the end of this whole absurd marathon that has marked my life since 2017, Ali Gharavi tells TT.

Ten of the suspects, including Gharavi, were released from Turkish security prison in October 2017 pending sentencing.

"Contrary to all logic"

The judges will appeal against Amnesty in Sweden, but it is a process that can take several years.

"The verdict contradicts all logic and also shows how this three-year trial from day one was a political attempt to silence independent votes," Andrew Gardner, Turkey's investigator at Amnesty International, said in a press release.