What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than to use it to pay tribute to the incredible bravery and commitment to human rights of Eren Keskin, Human Rights lawyer, and show solidarity with her. She has been repeatedly prosecuted and sometimes convicted under articles of the penal code unfairly limiting the right to freedom of expression.

More than one hundred judicial proceedings have been brought against   Eren because of her outspoken stand against human rights violations in Turkey. In 1995 she was convicted to 2.5 years imprisonment and served six months in prison for referring to "Kurdistan" in an article. In recent years she was convicted at least four times to prison terms – for example because she used the word “Kurdistan” or because she reported publicly about sexual harassment against Kurdish women by soldiers and gendarmes. These verdicts were commuted into fines or suspended.

However, she was convicted of 'membership of an armed terrorist organization' and sentenced to six years and three months at the in the Ozgur Gundem (daily newspaper) trial and this conviction was upheld last year.  Amnesty International has in the past published several urgent actions on behalf of Eren Keskin as she had been the target of serious death threats and was physically attacked.

Today, and every day, the bravery of Eren and all Human Rights Defenders is appreciated all around the world.

Action:

On 8 March, IWD, please use your social media channels to show support for Erin Keskin by posting messages such as:

On International Women’s Day we stand in solidarity with you and applaud your commitment to defending human rights and for standing up against injustice.

On International Women’s Day we remember @KeskinEren1 and stand with you in your fight for justice .

@KeskinEren1 - An example to us all on International Women’s Day.

For Twitter please tag Eren: @KeskinEren1

            and Amnesty Turkey: @aforgutu

For Instagram tag Eren at: erenkeskin84

Include the following hashtag in your posts

            #ErenKeskinYalnızDeğildir (In English this means “Eren Keskin is not alone)