Swedish Journalist Arrested In Turkey For Covering Anti-Erdogan Protests

Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who was detained on his arrival in Turkey on Thursday to cover street protests, has been jailed, his newspaper's editor-in-chief told AFP on Friday.

Asked whether Medin had been jailed, Dagens ETC chief Andreas Gustavsson said in a text message, "It's correct", adding that "we have not been informed about actual charges yet".

Medin was held when he landed in Turkey where he was going to cover anti-government protests, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on social media, adding that she and her colleagues "always take it seriously when journalists are detained".

Turkish media said Medin has been accused of having "insulted the president", Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and of being a "member of an armed terrorist organisation".

"I know that these accusations are false, 100 percent false," Gustavsson wrote on his X account.

Gustavsson said earlier that Medin had sent a text message saying he was being "taken in for questioning".

"Joakim should be released. Because freedom of the press is under attack," Gustavsson added.

Turkey has intensified its crackdown on anti-government protests which broke out after the arrest and jailing of Istanbul's popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

More than 1,879 people have been detained since March 19, Turkey's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday.

Police also detained two Turkish women journalists in dawn raids on their homes, the Turkish Journalists' Union (TGS) said Friday.

The move came just hours after the authorities released the last of 11 journalists arrested in dawn raids on Monday for covering the protests, among them AFP photographer Yasin Akgul.

Turkey deported BBC journalist Mark Lowen, who had been covering the protests, after holding him for 17 hours on Wednesday, saying he posed "a threat to public order", the broadcaster said.

In a statement late Thursday, Turkey's communications directorate said Lowen had been deported "due to a lack of accreditation".

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