Amnesty International on Tuesday said its Turkish chief Taner Kiliç and 22 other lawyers were detained over suspected links to the movement headed by United States-based preacher Fethullah Gülen (pictured above). Gülen is accused by Ankara of carrying out last year’s failed coup.

Kiliç was detained by the Turkish police from his home in Izmir, before being taken to his office, the human rights group said. Both his premises were searched, and he is currently in police custody. “Taner Kiliç has a long and distinguished record of defending exactly the kind of freedoms that the Turkish authorities are now intent on trampling,” the human rights group’s Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement.

Amnesty International said there was no reason to believe that Kiliç’s detention had anything to do with the organisation’s work. It said that the detention order referred to an investigation into suspected members of the “Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organisation”. They argued that there was lack of evidence against Taner Kiliç and the 22 lawyers and urged the Turkish authorties to release them immediately.

Gülen has been living in the United States since 1999 on a self-imposed exile. While the Turkish government blames him for the coup attempt, he has in the past denied any involvement. Ever since the coup was attempted in July last year, Turkish authorities have arrested over 50,000 people, and at least 150,000 soldiers, police, teachers, judges and public servants have been either sacked or suspended for having alleged links with terrorist groups, Reuters reported.