A Swedish journalist detained upon arrival in Turkey and later arrested on terrorism-related charges is being held separately from other prisoners but is in “good spirits,” his employer said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported.
Joakim Medin, who was detained on March 28 at İstanbul Airport after traveling to cover the country’s ongoing protest movement, was formally arrested a day later and sent to Silivri Prison on the outskirts of the city.
Medin is “well fed, he can exercise,” and is able to speak with other prisoners through the bars, his lawyer told Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC. Although he is not sharing a cell, the paper said he has access to an outdoor area and will soon be provided books.
Medin had traveled to Turkey to cover protests sparked by the March 19 arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief political rival. More than 2,000 people have been detained in the unrest, which marks the largest wave of demonstrations in the country since 2013.
The Turkish authorities accuse Medin of “insulting the president” and membership in a terrorist organization — allegations the journalist’s wife and employer have dismissed as “false” and “absurd.”
Dagens ETC published a photo of a handwritten message Medin gave to his lawyer, reading: “Journalism is not a crime, in any country.”
The paper’s editor-in-chief, Andreas Gustavsson, said legal proceedings appeared to have progressed quickly when Medin was brought before the prosecutor. “There is still much to be clarified,” he said. “But a legal team is working on his behalf.”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday he was closely following the case, though he had not yet spoken to Erdoğan. Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said she would raise the issue with her Turkish counterpart during a NATO meeting later this week.
