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Turkey Court Extends Detention of Top Activist Osman Kavala

Turkish activist Osman Kavala has been held without conviction since October 2017 Handout Anadolu Culture Center/AFP
Turkish activist Osman Kavala has been held without conviction since October 2017 Handout Anadolu Culture Center/AFP
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Turkey Court Extends Detention of Top Activist Osman Kavala

Turkish activist Osman Kavala has been held without conviction since October 2017 Handout Anadolu Culture Center/AFP
Turkish activist Osman Kavala has been held without conviction since October 2017 Handout Anadolu Culture Center/AFP

A Turkish court ordered leading activist Osman Kavala to remain in prison Monday, amid fresh calls for his release in the high-profile case that has drawn widespread rebuke.

The 64-year-old philanthropist has been held without conviction since October 2017, accused of financing 2013 anti-government protests and playing a role in a coup plot against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has called for Kavala's release, which Turkey has refused to comply with.

This month, the Council of Europe (COE) launched disciplinary action over Turkey's failure to free him.

A three-judge panel on Monday refused to release Kavala and set the next hearing for March 21.

Kavala did not appear in court, and his lawyers questioned the tribunal's impartiality.

"Kavala is not being tried in this tribunal, but in political party meetings," defense lawyer Tolga Aytore told the court.

Western diplomats, including from France and Germany, attended the hearing on Monday, according to an AFP reporter.

The COE ruled this month that Turkey had failed to comply with a 2019 ruling by the ECHR to release Kavala.

Under the rules of the Strasbourg-based COE, the case has been referred back to the ECHR, which will examine if Turkey has complied with its 2019 ruling.

Turkey has been a member of the COE since 1950 and is party to the European Convention on Human Rights.

It denounced the COE's decision as "interference" in domestic court proceedings.

The COE's verdict could prompt action against Ankara from the committee of ministers, including suspension of Turkey's voting rights or even expulsion from the body.

Ahead of the hearing on Monday, the European Parliament's Turkey rapporteur slammed Ankara for its apparent refusal to comply with the ruling.

"It's not easy to understand what the rationale is of the Turkish authorities, simply not complying with the court ruling," Nacho Sanchez Amor told AFP.

"This is not about any kind of interfering from abroad, this is about the Turkish constitution, the European Court of Human Rights is part of the judiciary system of Turkey."

He added that Turkey's refusal to comply with the court ruling would "damage the image of the country".

Erdogan has repeatedly accused Kavala of being an agent of George Soros, a billionaire financier and pro-democracy campaigner.

Kavala's supporters view his plight as a symbol of the purges Erdogan unleashed after the coup attempt, and his case has become a growing irritant on Turkey's complex ties with the West.

Government critics say Turkey's standoff with the COE underscores the profound erosion of human rights under Erdogan's two-decade rule.

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Pope Francis Calls Trump’s Plans of Mass Deportation of Immigrants a ‘Disgrace’ 

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)
A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)
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Pope Francis Calls Trump’s Plans of Mass Deportation of Immigrants a ‘Disgrace’ 

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)
A handout picture provided by the Vatican Media shows Pope Francis leading the Angelus prayer, traditional Sunday's prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square, in Vatican City, 19 January 2025. (Vatican Media Handout/EPA)

Pope Francis said Donald Trump’s plans to impose mass deportations of immigrants would be a “disgrace,” as he weighed in on the incoming US president’s pledges nearly a decade after calling him “not Christian” for wanting to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.

History’s first Latin American pope was asked about the Trump administration pledges of deportations during an appearance Sunday night on a popular Italian talk show, Che Tempo Che Fa.

“If true, this will be a disgrace, because it makes the poor wretches who have nothing pay the bill” for the problem, Francis said. “This won’t do! This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved.”

Trump, who is being sworn in on Monday, made mass deportations a signature issue of his campaign and has promised a raft of first-day orders to remake immigration policy.

During his first campaign for the presidency, in 2016, Francis was asked about Trump’s plans to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. Speaking after he celebrated Mass along the border, Francis famously said anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants is “not Christian.”

Many US bishops have firmly opposed Trump’s deportation plan, with the incoming archbishop of Washington DC, Cardinal Robert McElroy, saying such policies were “incompatible with Catholic doctrine.” It was a reference to the Biblical call to “welcome the stranger.”

Another cardinal close to Francis, Chicago Cardinal Blasé Cupich, said the reports of mass deportations targeting the Chicago area “are not only profoundly disturbing but also wound us deeply.”

In a statement delivered from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City on Sunday, Cupich said governments have the responsibility to protect borders and communities.

“But we also are committed to defending the rights of all people, and protecting their human dignity,” according to the text of his statement.

Francis, who grew up in Argentina in a family of Italian immigrants, has long prioritized the plight of migrants and called for governments to welcome, protect and integrate them, within their means. He has said the dignity and rights of migrants trump any national security concerns.