Swedish Journalist Arrested In Turkey On Terrorism Charge

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- Swedish journalist Joakim Medin has been arrested in Turkey on charges of“insulting the president” and“membership of an armed terrorist organization,” according to state-run Anadolu Agency, which cited the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

The move followed an investigation into a January 2023 protest in Stockholm, where a mannequin representing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hung in effigy in front of the city hall.

According to prosecutors, 15 suspects, including Medin, a foreign affairs reporter for the Swedish news service Dagens ETC, were believed to have carried out, organized and reported on the act.

The investigation also referenced Medin's social media posts featuring weapons, flags, and members of the PKK/YPG. The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, and Turkey regards the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party of Syria - known as the People's Protection Units or YPG - as an affiliate of PKK.

Medin's detention was announced on the Swedish outlet's website. His arrest comes in the same week that Turkey deported a BBC journalist and detained an Agence France-Presse photographer covering protests sparked by the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Authorities Turkey have also imposed blackouts on some local media outlets.

“I demand that the Swedish government act directly and sharply,” Dagens ETC editor in chief Andreas Gustavsson wrote, adding that Medin“went to Turkey to give Dagens ETC's readers all the nuances.”

Medin was also the author of a 2023 book about the involvement of Turkey in Sweden's NATO ratification process.

(Updates headline and 1st graph saying the journalist was arrested. Adds charges in 1st and 2nd graphs.)

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