A 75-year-old Norwegian photographer has been arrested on the Greek island of Lesbos on espionage-related charges and is due to appear in court on Friday.

Knut Bry was working with a local non-profit organization that helps migrants and refugees.

“We are aware of the arrest of a Norwegian citizen on Lesbos. The embassy will offer assistance according to the consular framework,” the embassy said in a statement to the AP.

His lawyer, Haris Petsikos, said Bry would appear before a prosecutor on Friday but would formally present his defence on Monday after being granted time to prepare his case.

“Of course, he does not accept these allegations under any circumstances,” Petsikos said. “We don’t see anything from the case file that is incriminating against him.”

Located near the coast of Turkey, Lesbos was the busiest point of entry into the European Union during the 2015-16 refugee crisis, when hundreds of thousands of people fled wars in Iraq and Syria.