Swedish journalist arrested in Turkey

The Swedish journalist Joakim Medin was arrested on Thursday in Turkey. The Swedish Foreign Minister confirmed this on Friday after reports from Medin’s employer Days etc. Medin would report on the protests against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. According to Turkish media, the journalist is accused of insulting the Turkish president and of membership of a terrorist organization.

On Thursday Medin announced his employer that he was being taken for interrogation. According to Andreas Gustavsson, editor -in -chief of Days etcMedin is stuck in a prison near Istanbul. On the website Of the newspaper, he mentions the accusations against his reporter on Saturday afternoon incorrect. He calls on the Swedish government to put pressure on Turkey to get Medin free.

According to his editor -in -chief, Medin had contact with a lawyer in prison, but would still not have heard of which he is formally accused. Since the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and political rival of Erdogan, he has been protested on a large scale in the country. In addition, almost 1,900 people have been picked up so far. Also one BBC journalist was arrested, and on Wednesday after having blamed 5 pm on the country.

The arrest of Medin is related to things other than the recent protests. The Turkish authorities would blame him for involvement in an action in January 2023, whereby a doll by Turkish president was hung upside down in Stockholm. Medin denies that he had something to do with the action. The Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on Friday that he would take the case seriously and had contacted the Turkish ambassador to ‘clarify’ the case.

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