In January 2014, before the Islamic State had conquered Mosul and the Nineveh Plain and begun its genocide against Christians and others, an American colleague and I traveled to several Middle Eastern countries to document the plight of Christians there.

To get into Syria, we needed a guide. But many Westerners had gone across with local guides, only to be handed over for money to terrorists. And so an Assyrian Christian friend gave us the name of a man who could be trusted: Oshane Ide, known by his friends as "Sawo."

Sawo had crossed the border before, carrying medical aid for the beleaguered Assyrians of Hasakah Province (in Eastern Syria) on his back. We had to be particularly careful because even then al Qaeda agents were known to travel back and forth across the Turkish border into Syria.

Sawo took us across safely to meet with a ragtag unit of Syrian Christian militiamen who had refused to abandon their homeland. Their relationship with the local Kurds was uneasy, but the Christians did engage in coordinated military efforts with them against the Islamic State.

While America has generally good relations with the Kurds, Assyrian Christians have suffered at their hands, and the tension was palpable. (An Assyrian translator and friend of Sawo's, upon hearing us reference "Kurdistan," grew agitated, "Our people have suffered terribly and I'll ask you not to speak of our lands as Kurdistan.") Our time with Sawo was spent only in the company of Christians, by mutual preference. In January, Kurdish and Assyrian units actually clashed in a small battle, with fatalities.

We and Sawo made our return trip to Turkey with hundreds of refugees, including a Sunni Arab family, two grandparents and their young granddaughter. They carried all that remained of their belongings. We saw them struggling on the treacherous terrain and took their bags, and then took turns carrying their granddaughter in our arms. After we had arrived safely across the border, Sawo memorialized the occasion with the photograph you see here.

In the months that followed, we would see Sawo now and then on Facebook, posting on his travels in Mesopotamia, France (he is a dual citizen of France and Turkey), and even America, where he met with Assyrian Christian communities. Sawo later traveled to northern Iraq to interview Assyrian and Yazidi refugees, contributing to a report that was filed on May 12, 2015 with the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

In May 2015, Sawo was asked to go back to Hasakah Province to investigate the assassination of an Assyrian Christian deacon by the Kurdish militiamen who exercise significant authority in Hasakah Province.

Then, in late 2015 and early 2016, the people of Turkey, like those of France, Belgium, and the United States, became the victims of terrorist attacks. Turkey has not only been targeted by Islamic State terrorists, but also by Kurdish nationalists, who have been waging a guerrilla war ever since the collapse of a ceasefire with the Turkish government last July. On February 17, a Kurdish terrorist group known as the TAK carried out a car-bomb attack on a military transport bus in Ankara, killing 28 people (including a civilian) and injured more than twice as many.

As often happens after such incidents, governments react in swift and irrational ways. Just as this bombing occurred, Sawo was arrested by Turkish authorities and charged with being a sympathizer for Kurdish terrorists. His trial begins this week, and there are real concerns about whether he can get a fair trial amid the current tensions over terrorist violence.

It defies common sense that Sawo, who is not even Kurdish, would be charged with sympathy for the very Kurdish organizations he was investigating for crimes against Christians in Syria. Family and colleagues proclaim his innocence and express concerns over his treatment in prison and his failing health while he awaits his trial, which begins this week.

I believe sincerely that Sawo is an innocent victim of prosecutors who felt pressure to "round up the usual suspects" and obtain quick convictions after recent bombings.

The Turkish people, themselves victims of terrorist attacks, have an opportunity to show magnanimity that has at times been overlooked in the West. It is not the indigenous Christians of the Middle East, like Sawo, who carry out these attacks. As with innocent Muslims who face wrongful suspicion in the West, I hope that Sawo will receive justice in Turkey.

Jordan Allott is a filmmaker, founder of In Altum Productions and senior advisor for In Defense of Christians. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.