Thread by @g_christides

! Two months ago Greek police triumphantly announced they had busted a "criminal ring" of NGOs, accusing helpers as “spies” and “migrant smugglers” in #Lesbos. Is it so or just a convenient crackdown to silence voices defending human rights? Thread: 1/
spiegel.de/politik/auslan…

Let’s see who some of these Jamesbondian villains that the Greek secret service and police investigators are targeting: They include Philipp Hahn, captain of @teammareliberum, a 42-year old Frankfurter boat builder who has been saving people at sea for years; 2/

Also on the accused list is Natalie Gruber, a 30-year-old Austrian founder of @JosoorNet , an NGO that has helped thousands of asylum seekers over the years and is not even active in Greece 3/

They also include @alarm_phone , whose activity in alerting authorities & the public about asylum seeker vessels in distress all over the Med is so clandestine, that they work through a little-known dark web platform known as Twitter; 4/

They further include 19, mostly young, German volunteers who thought they could do some good in Greece instead of doing whatever young people are doing these days 5/

According to the confidential police file seen by @derspiegel , the individuals and organizations are lumped together as a criminal organization, involved in espionage, violation of state secrets and facilitating the illegal entry of migrants into the country 6/

The investigation started since at least June. Communication privacy was lifted, authorities even recruited migrants as agents, sending them covertly to Turkey to see “how the system works” and identify suspects. 7/

For months, rumors were circulating that authorities were into something “big”. That an exposé of the nefarious role of helpers and NGOs would soon come to light. 8/

Early September, the Mare Liberum boat was raided by police. Laptops, phones, maps, diaries were confiscated. The material forms the basis of the case the police has tried to build. 9/

Then on September 28, Greek police published their great discovery. The names of the NGOs were not disclosed. But sure enough, they were leaked to the Greek press. A top-selling one circulated with the subtle front-page headline “slavers and spies made in Germany”. 10/

Lawyer Haris Petsikos, who represents Mare Liberum, told SPIEGEL the police accusations are grave and could actually land people in jail if convicted“ 11/

Whether the groups or individuals are guilty of any crimes is for the courts to decide. For now 1 thing they all have in common: Systematically monitoring human rights in the Aegean, publishing their findings and sharing info with media and reporters incl. Der SPIEGEL 12/

Since that first triumphant police announcement there have been no official charges, no summons by the prosecutor, no arrests The delay could be connected to the complexity of the case, the flimsiness of evidence and/or the authorities’ reluctance to be involved in a blunder 13/

A weak case against young volunteers and aid workers from EU states could prove a disaster from a PR perspective for the police and the country. Germany’s and other embassies are already involved 14/

This is not the first time Greek authorities target humanitarian workers and volunteers working with migrants. Perhaps the most prominent example is that of Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder (spiegel.de/politik/auslan… ). Mardini is still awaiting trial… 15/

Authorities can count on the snail pace of the justice system. So they are perhaps less interested in a conviction down the road and more in the immediate ramifications for humanitarian work at a time when Greece is under scrutiny for its deterrence methods. 16/

Mare Liberum has stopped welcoming new volunteers. And NGO workers remaining on the island are spooked. Another bonus for Greek authorities: they could dismiss out of hand future media reporting on human rights violations based on information coming from NGOs. /17

Neither @PhilHahn4 nor @NatalieSGruber intend to hide. Hahn is in Lesbos, which he calls home. Gruber is in her hometown in Vienna, and says she will appear whenever summoned. /18