Politics Allegations of terrorism against Swedish journalist in Turkey
A Swedish journalist has been arrested in Turkey on terror charges. The authorities accuse him of being a member of an armed terrorist organization and of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This was reported by the state news agency Anadolu.
29.03.2025, 15:24
SDA
Kaj Joakim Medin, who works for the Swedish daily newspaper "Dagens ETC", was arrested shortly after landing in Istanbul on Thursday, as the newspaper initially reported. He was later officially arrested after appearing before a court in Ankara via video conference, Anadolu reported on Friday evening.
Turkish opposition party demands Imamoglu's release
Since the beginning of the protests in Turkey against the imprisonment of the now deposed mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, journalists have also been arrested alongside demonstrators and government critics. On Thursday, for example, a BBC reporter was deported from Turkey following his arrest. According to the British broadcaster, he had been in the country for several days to report on the protests.
Meanwhile, the protests against Imamoglu's imprisonment continue. A major rally has also been announced for today in Istanbul. Initial photos showed numerous people carrying flags of Turkey's largest opposition party, the CHP. The CHP wants Imamoglu - its presidential candidate - to be released.
Thousands of people were expected to attend the mass protest in the Maltepe district. The demonstrators accuse the authoritarian Erdogan of wanting to use the judiciary to politically eliminate Imamoglu and thus get rid of his most important rival.
Arrest in the course of an ongoing investigation
According to Anadolu, the journalist Medin was detained as part of an ongoing investigation by Turkish authorities into a demonstration in Stockholm in 2023, during which an effigy of Erdogan was hung on the outside of the city hall. Anadolu also quoted authorities as saying that the Swede had spread propaganda for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on social media.
The authorities also cited Medin's reporting from conflict zones in Syria, the PKK stronghold in Iraq and southeastern Turkey between 2014 and 2017. The editor-in-chief of Medin's newspaper, Andreas Gustavsson, wrote on Platform X: "I know the allegations are false. One hundred percent false."
The German Journalists' Association strongly condemned the actions of the Turkish authorities. DJV Federal Chairman Mika Beuster said that arbitrary arrests of Turkish journalists had become a sad routine. "The detention of foreign correspondents marks a new level of escalation and illustrates the president's nervousness." However, the truth cannot be suppressed. "We journalists are keeping a close eye on what is happening in Turkey and will not be silenced."
