Elena Albokhari has started a Change petition and GoFundMe page to help secure the release of her husband Ali Albokhari, a Finnish citizen and professional seafarer who is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence in Turkey.
Albokhari was arrested in 2023 while working on the Panama-flagged Phoenician M after drugs were found in the vessel’s cargo holds. No evidence was found that linked any of the crew to the drugs, and all other crew members have long since been released from prison.
Meanwhile, Albokhari is suffering from increasingly serious health conditions due to poor living conditions, fatigue, and his deteriorating mental health.
Serious doubts have been raised about the guilty verdict, even within the Turkish judicial process. Two judges issued dissenting opinions stating that there had not been a proper investigation and that the evidence against the crew members was insufficient. In addition, the prosecutor of the Supreme Court case had previously opposed the sentence.
Elena is calling on the Government of Finland and global maritime organizations to urgently examine the case. She is also raising money for a legal challenge to the sentence.
“No seafarer should face decades in prison without clear evidence of personal involvement in a crime,” she says. “My husband doesn't have a criminal record. He was working 10 years as a seaman and never had any problems. The Ministry of Foreign affairs of Finland is aware of the case. Almost two years I am alone in this fight, trying to save my husband. Please, save our family and help us set Ali free.”
Human Rights at Sea supports her call. “Seafarer criminalisation is not a burden that seafarers and their families should shoulder alone,” says David Hammond, Founder of the NGO Human Rights at Sea.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/chief-officer-illegally-sentenced-to-30-years?
ENDS.
Source: Human Rights at Sea 2026. Author: Wendy Laursen.
AI. AI was not used in this article.
Photo Credit: Elena Albokhari
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