(Athens, May 19, 2026) – The decision by a Norwegian appeals court on May 15, 2026, to block the extradition of a human rights defender, Tommy Olsen, to Greece is a victory for human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. A district court had initially approved the extradition request on March 16, but Olsen filed an appeal.
The Hålogaland Court of Appeal unanimously recognized that the acts described by Greek authorities in its extradition request do not constitute criminal offenses under Norwegian law, and that his extradition would risk violating his right to freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court concluded that Olsen’s actions were lawful acts protected by international treaties that bind both Norway and Greece.
“The court’s decision not to extradite Tommy Olsen is a victory for the work of human rights defenders, and a direct rebuff to Greece’s attempt to export its crackdown on dissent,” said Eva Cossé, senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Greece should now revoke the warrant and drop all charges against Olsen and his codefendant Panayote Dimitras.”
Olsen, founder of the nongovernmental group Aegean Boat Report, was targeted in 2023 by Greek authorities with unfounded charges linked to his work documenting illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers and migrants at Greece’s borders. He is being prosecuted by Greek authorities alongside a Greek human rights defender, Panayote Dimitras, of Greek Helsinki Monitor. Greek authorities should drop all charges against Olsen and Dimitras and stop weaponizing criminal law to silence the country’s critics, Human Rights Watch said.
The case against Olsen and Dimitras is part of a wider pattern of misuse of criminal law to harass activists defending the rights of migrants. In January, a Greek court in Lesbos acquitted 24 humanitarian workers of the felony charges against them after a seven-year ordeal, during which some had spent periods in detention for their peaceful activism. The European Parliament described it as the “largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.”
Greek authorities recently passed legislation that makes it easier to criminalize civil society organizations involved in aiding migrants and asylum seekers.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human right defenders, Mary Lawlor, expressed deep concern on March 19 about Olsen’s arrest, stating that these charges appear to be “in direct retaliation” for Olsen’s work and to form part of a “long-standing and well-documented repression” of rights defenders in Greece.
Extraditions under the European Arrest Warrant from one European Union state to another are largely automatic (with similar rules for Norway, a non-EU state), but the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that they can be delayed or halted on human rights grounds. As long as Olsen remains subject to an extradition request under the warrant, he will face a risk of arrest and extradition to Greece if he travels to any European Union state.
“Olsen remains at risk of politically motivated prosecution and extradition as long as Greece’s European Arrest Warrant remains in force,” Cossé said. “Greece should revoke the warrant, and other states should make clear they will respond to it as the Norwegian court has done.”
