San Francisco Frontiers - Swedish journalist jailed in Turkey kept 'isolated': employer

Joakim Medin is "well fed, he can exercise" but is being held "isolated" at Siliviri prison, according to his lawyer who met with him, the newspaper he works for, Dagens ETC, said in an article.

It published a photo taken by the lawyer of a piece of paper on which Medin had written: "Journalism is not a crime, in any country."

Medin was arrested last Thursday when he arrived in Turkey to cover massive street protests sparked by the detention and jailing of Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- the main political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The demonstrations, the biggest to grip the country in 12 years, have been met with a crackdown by authorities, who have arrested journalists and deported a BBC reporter.

The authorities have accused Medin of being a member of a terrorist organisation and "insulting the president" -- charges rejected as "absurd" by his newspaper.

Medin's wife, Sofie Axelsson, told AFP on Sunday that the charges levelled at him are "false".

- 'Police used Google Translate' -

Dagens ETC said Tuesday that, though Medin was not put together with other detainees, he "can still speak to other prisoners through the bars" and he had access to a garden for walks.

It added: "He has no books to read, but he will get them."

The newspaper's chief editor Andreas Gustavsson said in the article that, according to the lawyer, "there is not much that can be said at this stage about the legal proceedings" against Medin.

"I believe they were over within minutes when he was brought before the prosecutor. There are still many things to work out. But there is a legal team working on his behalf," the editor said.

A Turkish rights group, MLSA, said its lawyer who spoke with Medin said the reporter had no lawyer nor interpreter with him when he was officially questioned.

"The police used Google Translate" and an officer signed a document in place of Medin, who did not understand it and refused to sign it, MLSA said.

The reporter also denied a Turkish accusation that he took part in a January 2023 demonstration in Stockholm by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), MLSA said.

When he appeared in court via video link on Friday to be formally arraigned, the hearing "lasted three minutes", the rights group said.

The PKK has led a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and been designated by Turkey as a banned terrorist group.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday that he was closely following the reporter's case, though he had not yet had contact with Erdogan to discuss the matter.

"For now, it's the foreign ministry that is handling the issue," Kristersson said.

Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Sunday that she would discuss the case with her Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of a NATO meeting taking place on Thursday and Friday.

N.Wilson--SFF