Istanbul, March 30 (IANS) Turkey on Sunday said that the Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who was detained on his arrival to cover unrest in the country over the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, has been charged with terror-related offences and insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Medin, who works for the Dagens ETC newspaper and was assigned to cover protests over the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor, “has been arrested on charges of ‘membership in an armed terrorist organisation’ and ‘insulting the president,” according to the Turkish presidency.
In a bulletin published by Turkey’s “Disinformation Combat Centre,” the presidency said the journalist was “known for anti-Turkey news and his closeness to the terrorist organisation PKK,” the banned Kurdish militant group.
Medin’s employer, Dagens ETC, had raised concerns over his whereabouts after he was unreachable for two days.
Speaking on the arrest of the journalist by the Turkish authorities, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Medin’s arrest was being taken “seriously.”
Earlier, Mark Lowen, a BBC correspondent, was detained in Istanbul, where he was covering the protests and political crisis ignited by the arrest of Imamoglu.
Turkey later deported the correspondent who was covering the anti-government protests in the country after he was detained and labelled “a threat to public order.”
Several journalists covering the anti-government protests in the country have been detained by the Turkish authorities.
The Turkish Journalists’ Union on Saturday called for media to be allowed to operate freely, following the detention of journalists and penalties imposed on several media outlets covering mass protests linked to opposition politician Imamoglu, according to media reports.
Thousands of people joined a mass rally in Istanbul on Saturday, organised by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), in a call to defend democracy and protest against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The detention of Imamoglu, the arch-rival of the Turkish President and a potential presidential election contender, sparked the country’s largest street demonstrations in more than a decade.
–IANS
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