SARAH Mardini, the Syrian competitive swimmer who was hailed as a hero for saving refugees in peril at sea, is among dozens of humanitarian workers in Greece facing charges that could see them imprisoned for decades.
The trial of the 24 defendants, who worked on the Greek island of Lesbos assisting vulnerable people arriving on Europe’s shores, is set to begin on Thursday.
They were members of an NGO, the Emergency Response Center International (ERCI), a search-and-rescue group that operated on the Greek island from 2016 to 2018.
They face up to eight years in prison for state-secret espionage and disclosure and 25 years in jail for charges including smuggling and money laundering.
Amnesty International has called the accusations “unfair and baseless”.
Three years ago, Mardini and Sean Binder, an Irish citizen and rescue diver, were volunteering their time on Lesbos when they were arrested on a series of charges,
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