Istanbul, March 31, 2025—Turkish authorities should immediately release Swedish journalist Kaj Joakim Medin, who was arrested March 27 in Istanbul on accusations of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “insulting” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Committee to Protest Journalists said Monday.
“Turkey was a haven for foreign journalists covering the region just a decade ago. Swedish journalist Joakim Medin’s arrest upon traveling to Istanbul is a chilling reminder that the country has gravely changed,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should release Medin without delay in order to avoid further tarnishing the country’s reputation in international media circles.”
Medin, a reporter for the Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC, was immediately taken into police custody upon his arrival in Istanbul to cover civil unrest amid the government’s crackdown on the city’s opposition municipalities.
Turkish authorities have accused Medin of being involved in a January 11, 2023, anti-Erdoğan protest in Stockholm, according to multiple reports. Authorities claim the gathering was organized by people with ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey recognizes as a terrorist organization. Prosecutors in the capital city of Ankara have initiated a criminal investigation against 15 suspects, including Medin, in connection with the event, according to a statementfrom the directorate of communications at the president’s office.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told Dagens ETC that his case is of the “highest priority,” and she is working with Sweden’s consulate general in Istanbul to get the journalist released.
Separately, BBC correspondent Mark Lowen, who was covering Istanbul’s civil unrest was detained and deported by the authorities last week. Turkish authorities said he wasn’t accredited to work in the country.
CPJ’s email to the chief prosecutor’s office in Ankara and Istanbul regarding Medin and Lowen respectively but did not receive any reply.