Her crime was to rescue refugees at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.

Now celebrated Syrian swimmer Sarah Mardini, along with 23 other humanitarian rescue workers are on trial in Greece for espionage, assisting smuggler networks and membership of a criminal organisation.

The trial has brought condemnation from human rights group and the EU Parliament, which has called the proceedings “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe”.

Twenty two-year-old Mardini, along with other high-profile volunteer Sean Binder and 22 others, were arrested in 2018 after they took part in several search and rescue operations around the Lesbos island to help refugees stranded at sea.  

Mr Binder, a trained diver, is a dual Irish and German citizen, while Mardini is a Syrian refugee who herself arrived to Europe via sea.

Ms Mardini gained international attention after it emerged that she and her sister saved the lives of fellow asylum seekers when the boat they were traveling on from Turkey to Greece encountered difficulty.

Ms Mardini’s sister Yusra went on to swim for the Refugee team at the 2020 Olympics. The sisters’ is told in then new Netflix film ‘The Swimmers’.

Ms Mardini returned to Greece in 2016 to volunteer with Emergency Response Center International where she worked alongside Binder.

The two have been charged with felonies including espionage, assisting smuggling networks, membership of a criminal organization, and money laundering and could face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty, according to a European Parliament report published in June, last year.

Ms Mardini’s lawyer Zacharias Kesses has slammed the allegations “arbitrary,” saying that the claims have “nothing to do with real evidence.”

Mr Binder has also denied the allegations, warning that their case had “frightened people away from doing this kind of work.”

“All we are asking for, all our lawyers have demanded is that the rule of law is respected. That Greek laws are respected,” Mr Binder told journalists ahead of the trial.

“We want the rule of law… the prosecution had made flaw after flaw in the case,” he said.

In a December 22 statement, Human Rights Watch called on the Greek prosecutor to drop the charges, saying the case “effectively criminalizes life-saving humanitarian solidarity for people on the move”.

Director of Amnesty International’s European Regional Office Nils Muižnieks said” “the trial reveals how the Greek authorities will go to extreme lengths to deter humanitarian assistance and discourage migrants and refugees from seeking safety on the country’s shores”.

“It is farcical that this trial is even taking place. All charges against the rescuers must be dropped without delay,” he said.

In August 2015 the Mardini sisters fled the conflict in their homeland.

Fifteen minutes into their boat journey towards the Greek island of Lesbos – just ten kilometres away from where the departed in Turkey – the dinghy’s engine died in rough seas and its occupants were tossed around helplessly by high waves.

As it seemed the craft would sink, the passengers began to pray. But Yusra and Sara, who had both swum internationally for Syria, jumped into the water to try and stop the boat capsizing, clinging on to try and keep the flimsy dinghy headed in the right direction.

The sisters swallowed sea water while being buffeted by waves, their eyes stinging and muscles straining while passengers – including families with small children – frantically used their mobile phones to try to call for help.

They eventually made contact with the Greek coastguard who simply told them to turn back, but they could not reach the Turkish coastguard.

The Mardini sisters clung on for three hours, their muscles aching from the cold and their skin chafing from their life jackets. Another, larger boat filled with refugees sped past, ignoring their cries for help as darkness began to fall.

Suddenly, the engine was restarted and the sisters, who had been in the water longest while the male passengers took turns to help them, climbed back in the boat.

Shivering with cold, Sara volunteered for one last stint in the water to reduce the dinghy’s weight and they landed on a Lesbos beach.