Human rights group Amnesty International recently renewed its calls for Greek authorities to drop all charges against Seán Binder and Sarah Mardini, who helped refugees who arrived in Greece.
Binder and Mardini are standing trial together with 22 others from the search and rescue NGO that they volunteered for. “They are facing unfair, baseless charges simply for helping refugees and migrants at risk of drowning at sea,” Amnesty International said.
Binder and Mardini were arrested in 2018 after they took part in several search and rescue operations around the Lesbos island to assist refugees stranded at sea, CNN noted in a story about the trial.
“Dozens of NGOs have criticized the Lesbos trial, and a group of European Parliament members have signed a letter calling on the government in Athens to drop the case,” the BBC reported.
A movie available on Netflix called The Swimmers charts the journey of Sarah Mardini and her sister Yusra from war-torn Syria as refugees to Yusra’s participation in the Rio Olympics as part of a refugee team.
The Immigration and Refugee News Digest 