Seán Binder

Seán Binder (born 1996) is a German-born Irish human rights activist and certified rescue diver who has spent most of his life in Ireland.

From 2017 to 2018, he volunteered with a humanitarian non-governmental organization on Lesbos island, Greece, assisting refugees arriving in small boats from the nearby Turkish coast.

Along with Syrian refugee and human rights activist Sarah Mardini, he was arrested in 2018 and accused by Greek authorities of espionage, aiding illegal immigration and belonging to a criminal organization.

Binder was born in Germany and moved with his German mother to Castlegregory, a small village on the Western coast of County Kerry, Ireland, at age five.

[4] Further, ERCI had been operating a medical centre in Moria refugee camp, described by Human Rights Watch and other organizations as an "open air prison".

[4] At ERCI, Binder met fellow volunteer Sarah Mardini, a Syrian refugee who had fled from her home country in 2015 via Turkey on a dinghy and found refuge first at Lesbos and later political asylum in Germany.

[10] Apart from the 24 former members of ERCI, a number of other humanitarian workers have been facing prosecution in Greece, similar to what happened in Italy, where providing aid to migrants has also been criminalised.

[14] After more than four years of protracted legal procedures by the Greek authorities and personal psychological stress and uncertainty after his first arrest, Binder said he wanted an immediate further trial, in order for him to answer all the felony charges and clear his name.

"[17] Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Senior Campaigner on Migration for Amnesty International was quoted as follows: "These trumped-up charges are farcical and should never have resulted in Sarah and Seán appearing in court.