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LAST UPDATE | 28 Mar
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 news agency AFP.
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”.
Turkish media said that Medin has been accused of having “insulted the president”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and being a “member of an armed terrorist organisation”.
Medin’s arrest comes as BBC News correspondent Mark Lowen was earlier deported from Turkey after being detained for around 17 hours, the corporation has said.
Turkish authorities took Lowen from his hotel on Wednesday, in what BBC News CEO Deborah Turness called “an extremely troubling incident”.
He had been in the country to report on recent anti-government protests, which reignited yesterday with the police using pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannon against demonstrators.
The journalist was deported on yesterday morning from Istanbul, after being accused of “being a threat to public order”, according to the BBC.
“Mark is a very experienced correspondent with a deep knowledge of Turkey and no journalist should face this kind of treatment simply for doing their job,” Turness said, adding that representations had been made to Turkish authorities.
“To be detained and deported from the country where I previously lived for five years and for which I have such affection has been extremely distressing,” Lowen said in a statement.
“Press freedom and impartial reporting are fundamental to any democracy.”
📣 Some news about me:
— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) March 27, 2025
Yesterday (Wednesday) I was detained by police in Istanbul, held for 17 hours and then deported from Turkey to the UK. Told I was “a threat to public order”. In the country I lived in - and love.
Journalism is not a crime.
Here’s the BBC’s statement: pic.twitter.com/vhw7BHlbnn
Week-long protests, the largest to grip the country in decades, have swept Turkey since the 19 March arrest of Istanbul’s popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Since then, more than 1,850 people have been detained, including 11 journalists covering the protests.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was “outraged” by Turkey’s expulsion of Lowen and its accusation that he was a threat to public order.
“This is how (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan’s regime regards journalism, and tries to prevent foreign reporters from doing their jobs,” said Erol Onderoglu of RSF in Turkey.
“RSF calls on the Turkish authorities to stop using the legal system to criminalise journalists and to lift the arbitrary bans on Lowen and other foreign journalists’ entry into Turkish territory,” Onderoglu added.
The Media and Law Studies Association said eight journalists who were jailed awaiting trial after covering the protests have been released.
Additional reporting by Andrew Walsh
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Perhaps Simon should take over the Housing Minister position.
Every story about the homeless has a real live human being behind it. Some like this guy make it out of the gutter, alcohol and the rent situation put him in the gutter.
Yet all we hear from FG supporters here is slander with no bounds, as they queue up to pour their vitriolic bile on anyone who’s situation has being highlighted. Everyone is a sponger, a freeloader, wants a mythical free house, never worked in their life. All to justify the neglect of the poor and less well off, and deflect on the huge damage done to society by government policies.
@Dave Doyle: It’s so true it would make you sick. This country is in one horrible mess and the worst thing is it would take something on a revolutionary scale to change it.
Well done to simon services… the goverment s minister regina Doherity has decided to not give xmas bonus this year is she fr real ??? Pay rises were given to herself and her cohorts but the rest of us are crippled with high taxs we are paying the higest mortgage rates in the EU.. car tax insurance is also higher..half the country are homeless ..hope this goverment including fianna fail who are supporting their decisions are destroyed in the next election…they are not fit fr purpose
@Mari: we are not the most expensive country in the EU, also renting is more prominent in other countries. Yes we have a massive problem with homelessness and people living in emergency accommodation we are not the worst in EU either. This does not mean I think anyone should be let off the hook for the shambles the country is in, but the people here need to take off the rose tinted glasses
@GClare: we absolutely are one of the most expensive countries for gas, electricity, insurance, food, housing and so on.
When you include taxes we get little in return by way of services for all, such as healthcare.
The only person with rose tinted glasses here is you. You clearly haven’t been living in Ireland the last 10years with that attitude.
@Regina Farrell: By your rationale, the government should have their salaries suspended. Certainly housing, justice, healthcare, transport and the Taoiseach. Manipulating the system and doing sweet effay in return.
@Mari: since when is 10,000 People half the country?
Fair play to Geoff! Onwards..Great admiration for a person homeless after 7 years and to come back. With the right people anything is possible!
@paul christopher cox: Indeed, imagine if FF/FG/labour gave as much of a care, what might be possible… Geoff and many more might’ve been contributing to our society if our governments had actually come up with solutions instead creating the problems in the first place.
Pity they don’t finance ngo’s the same way public servants are. Staff at NGO’s are the cheap version of public services and are expected to do similar work.
@Brian Smith: now that really does depend on the NGO; take a look into background of charities, remember the scandal a few years ago, that was not made up!!! And it is world wide not just Ireland
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