{"id":14616,"date":"2025-12-04T15:48:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=14616"},"modified":"2025-12-04T15:48:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:48:06","slug":"grotesque-charges-against-sean-binder-must-be-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/grotesque-charges-against-sean-binder-must-be-dropped\/","title":{"rendered":"Grotesque charges against Se\u00e1n Binder must be dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The government must use every tool at its disposal to support Se\u00e1n Binder as he faces 20-years in a Greek prison for the crime of saving lives, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Stephenson said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2017, Se\u00e1n Binder showed limitless compassion and bravery when he, and a group of humanitarian volunteers, helped rescue migrants at risk of drowning off the coast of Lesbos, Greece.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis remarkable act of courage deserved to be lauded, but instead S\u00e9an has been put on trial for the crime of saving lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSe\u00e1n already endured 106 days in prison, after his arrest in 2017, and has had these extremely serious charges, of people smuggling and being a member of a criminal organisation, hanging over him since then.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReacting to these grotesque charges, Amnesty has said it\u2019s not just Se\u00e1n on trial, but humanity and solidarity too. I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis trial is a travesty and if Se\u00e1n is convicted it will send a very dangerous message &#8211; that migrant lives are disposable and people should not intervene if they are in peril.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would also set an incredibly dangerous precedent: that if you do act to save migrant lives, you\u2019ll be heavily penalised and could face up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe T\u00e1naiste must now clarify if he has raised concerns with the Green government about this appalling case. At a minimum, the government must offer diplomatic support to Se\u00e1n and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>December 4th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government must use every tool at its disposal to support Se\u00e1n Binder as he faces 20-years in a Greek prison for the crime of saving lives, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. Senator Stephenson said: \u201cIn 2017, Se\u00e1n Binder showed limitless compassion and bravery when he, and a group of humanitarian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,784,641],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-human-rights","category-patricia-stephenson"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grotesque charges against Se\u00e1n Binder must be dropped - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/grotesque-charges-against-sean-binder-must-be-dropped\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grotesque charges against Se\u00e1n Binder must be dropped - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government must use every tool at its disposal to support Se\u00e1n Binder as he faces 20-years in a Greek prison for the crime of saving lives, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Patricia Stephenson. 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