Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who was recently given a suspended sentence of 11 months by a Turkish court for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been named one of the world’s most urgent press freedom cases by the One Free Press Coalition.
Medin, a reporter for the Swedish publication Dagens ETC, was detained on March 27 upon arrival at İstanbul Airport. His most recent trip to Turkey was for a reporting assignment to cover protests following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
He was jailed a day later in the notorious Silivri prison in İstanbul.
He was convicted on April 30 of insulting Erdoğan over his alleged attendance at a 2023 protest in Stockholm, where an effigy of the president was hanged. Medin has denied the accusation, saying, “I was not even in Sweden at the time; I was in Germany, and I did not post about the protest online.”
According to the indictment, Turkish prosecutors allege that images from the January protest were included in his reporting or shared on his social media accounts. Medin has denied this, saying he had no involvement in distributing the images and was not in Sweden at the time.
The judge ordered Medin’s release after handing down the suspended sentence. However, Medin remains behind bars due to a second, ongoing investigation.
Turkish authorities have also accused Medin of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), citing his alleged participation in the same rally. His family and employer deny the charges.
His detention has sparked condemnation from international press freedom groups and prompted calls from the Swedish government for consular access and his immediate release.
His employer dismissed the charges as politically motivated. “It’s time to speak plainly: Turkey is not a democracy,” Andreas Gustavsson, editor-in-chief of Dagens ETC, said. “They are using their laws to intimidate and silence journalists.”
The One Free Press Coalition’s list was released on World Press Freedom Day and published in international outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, highlighting cases of journalists facing threats or imprisonment, including Medin.
Medin’s case is part of a wider and ongoing crackdown on press freedom in Turkey. Since a coup attempt in 2016, the Turkish government has imprisoned hundreds of journalists, shut down dozens of media outlets and expanded the legal definition of terrorism to include criticism of state policy. The trend has deepened in recent years, with President Erdoğan’s government frequently invoking counterterrorism laws to target dissenting voices.
Turkey, which is known as one of the top jailers of journalists in the world, ranks 159th among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2025 World Press Freedom Index. The report cites ongoing censorship, politically motivated arrests and state control over media as key factors in the country’s continued decline in press freedom.
The crackdown has not been limited to Turkish nationals. Foreign reporters have also been swept up in the repression. In March, BBC correspondent Mark Lowen was detained and deported after attempting to cover anti-government demonstrations in Istanbul. In previous years, German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel spent more than a year in Turkish detention without formal charges, sparking a diplomatic rift between Turkey and Germany.
Even routine reporting can carry risk. Journalists covering topics such as the Kurdish conflict, government corruption or the judiciary frequently face interrogation, arrest or deportation. Press credentials have been increasingly politicized, with authorities revoking accreditation for perceived critics.
International watchdogs warn that journalism in Turkey is no longer safe and that the country has become a cautionary example of how legal tools can be used to erode media freedom under the guise of national security.
