{"id":18931,"date":"2025-04-29T13:03:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/?p=18931"},"modified":"2025-04-29T13:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T13:23:03","slug":"turkiye-free-pen-member-joakim-medin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/04\/29\/turkiye-free-pen-member-joakim-medin.html","title":{"rendered":"T\u00fcrkiye: Free PEN member Joakim Medin"},"content":{"rendered":"

PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement<\/a> of PEN International about PEN Sweden member Joakim Medin.<\/p>\n

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\u2018By prosecuting Joakim Medin, a Swedish national, the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye are clearly seeking to muzzle the foreign press and intimidate all journalists into silence. We urge the authorities to end their relentless clampdown on fundamental freedoms by promptly releasing Medin, and all writers held solely for their peaceful expression,\u2019 <\/em>said Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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29 April 2025 \u2013 The authorities of T\u00fcrkiye should immediately release journalist, writer, and PEN Sweden member Joakim Medin and drop all charges against him, PEN International and PEN Sweden said today, ahead of his first hearing in Ankara on 30 April. Medin faces lengthy prison terms on fabricated insult and terrorism grounds if convicted.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A writer and journalist with Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC<\/em>, Joakim Medin was detained<\/a> by police on 27 March 2025 at Istanbul airport after travelling to cover nationwide protests<\/a> and arrested the following day. A court in Ankara subsequently rejected<\/a> an appeal challenging his arrest order. He is currently being held in the high-security Marmara prison in Silivri, near Istanbul. On 1 April, he sent a message<\/a> from prison on a handwritten note that read, \u2018Journalism is not a crime, not in any country.\u2019<\/p>\n

Medin has been charged with \u2018insulting the president\u2019, a charge that carries up to three years in prison. According to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), which represents Medin, the charges<\/a> against him stem from social media posts related to a 2023 protest in Stockholm, in which an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan was hung<\/a> by its feet. Medin denied all accusations, telling prosecutors that he merely reported on the incident in a professional capacity. The protest organisers promptly corroborated<\/a> his statement.<\/p>\n

Medin faces separate charges of \u2018membership of a terrorist organisation\u2019 and \u2018making terrorist propaganda\u2019 \u2013 charges that carry years in prison. The second indictment notably mentions<\/a> his reporting for Dagens ETC<\/em>, his social media posts as well as the content of his books, including Kobane \u2013 Den kurdiska revolutionen och kampen mot IS<\/em>\u202f(Kobane \u2013 The Kurdish revolution and the fight against IS, <\/em>published in 2016) based on his travels to Syria as a journalist \u2013 which the prosecution claims is evidence of his ties to a terrorist group.<\/p>\n

\u2018Freedom of expression in T\u00fcrkiye is severely repressed, and the number of imprisoned writers and journalists is frighteningly high. It is now of the utmost importance that Joakim Medin receives a fair trial where it is established that journalism is not a crime,\u2019<\/em> said Kerstin Almeg\u00e5rd, President of PEN Sweden<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The first hearing in the \u2018insult\u2019 case has been scheduled for 30 April at the 79th Criminal Court of First Instance in Ankara. Medin is expected to testify by video link. A hearing for the terrorism-related case has yet to be set. PEN International and PEN Sweden call for both cases against Medim to be dropped and urge his immediate and unconditional release.<\/p>\n

PEN International further reiterates calls<\/a> for the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye to urgently uphold the rights to freedom of expression, information and peaceful protests, and to release all those detained on spurious grounds.<\/p>\n

Additional information<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Joakim Medin, born on 28 August 1984, is a well-known journalist, writer, and member of PEN Sweden, who reported from countries all over the world, including Syria, Hungary, Thailand and T\u00fcrkiye. Before working as a journalist Medin was a teacher, and he continued to teach journalism students at the time of his arrest \u2013 including about working in high-risk areas. Medin specialises in Kurdish issues, having visited the Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria multiple times for his work. He was previously detained<\/a> for a week by Syrian security forces in February 2015 alongside his interpreter while on a research trip in Syria. He is the author of several books, including Kobane \u2013 the Kurdish revolution and the fight against IS <\/em>(2016), Orb\u00e1nistan \u2013 fear and hatred in the illiberal Hungary <\/em>(2018), The Swedes of Thailand<\/em> (2019), Essential workers<\/em> (2021), Amanda \u2013 My daughter\u2019s journey to IS<\/em> (co-written with Patricio Galvez, 2022) and The Kurdish track \u2013<\/em> Sweden, Turkey and the price of a Nato membership <\/em>(2023).<\/p>\n

Relations between Sweden and T\u00fcrkiye have been fraught in recent years. In 2022, the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye requested<\/a> that several individuals from T\u00fcrkiye be extradited from Sweden to T\u00fcrkiye in exchange for the country allowing Sweden to join NATO. In 2023, T\u00fcrkiye summoned Sweden\u2019s ambassador following protests in Stockholm comparing Erdo\u011fan to Benito Mussolini, calling for protesters to be brought to account.<\/p>\n

As documented in Identity on Trial: Persecution and Resistance<\/em><\/a> \u2013 PEN International\u2019s Case List 2025, over-broad counter-terrorism laws have been repeatedly used by the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye to target writers and journalists who dare express dissenting views. Insult laws are a disproportionate<\/a> and unnecessary response to the need to protect reputations. They have a chilling effect and undermine freedom of expression. PEN International calls upon the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s to align counter-terrorism laws with international standards and to repeal all criminal defamation and insult laws.<\/p>\n

Solidarity messages<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Please take part in PEN Sweden\u2019s campaign and send solidarity messages to Joakim Medin and his family via this online form: https:\/\/www.svenskapen.se\/solidaritetshalsning-joakim-medin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Note to editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For further details contact Aur\u00e9lia Dondo,<\/strong> Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International:\u202fAurelia.dondo@pen-international.org<\/a><\/p>\n

For media queries, please contact\u202fSabrina Tucci<\/strong>, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager,\u202f\u202fSabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement of PEN International about PEN Sweden member Joakim Medin. \u2018By prosecuting Joakim Medin, a Swedish national, the authorities of T\u00fcrkiye are clearly seeking to muzzle the foreign press and intimidate all journalists into silence. We urge the authorities to end their relentless clampdown on fundamental freedoms by promptly releasing Medin, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":18932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4201],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solidarity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18931"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18936,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18931\/revisions\/18936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}