Türkiye Frees Swedish Journalist Who was Convicted for Insulting President Erdogan

Swedish journalist Joakim Medin with his wife journalist Sofie Axelsson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday May 17, 2025. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP)
Swedish journalist Joakim Medin with his wife journalist Sofie Axelsson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday May 17, 2025. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP)
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Türkiye Frees Swedish Journalist Who was Convicted for Insulting President Erdogan

Swedish journalist Joakim Medin with his wife journalist Sofie Axelsson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday May 17, 2025. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP)
Swedish journalist Joakim Medin with his wife journalist Sofie Axelsson attends a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday May 17, 2025. (Oscar Olsson/TT via AP)

A Swedish journalist arrested in Türkiye in March when he traveled there to cover nationwide protests was released and returned home to Sweden on Saturday.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X that “hard work in relative silence has paid off” and that Joakim Medin's release was due to intensive lobbying by the Swedish foreign ministry and European colleagues.

“Welcome home Joakim!” Kristersson wrote on X.

Last month, a Turkish court had convicted Medin of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Medin was given an 11-month suspended prison term, but initial reports said he would remain in custody awaiting the outcome of a separate trial on terrorism-related charges, The AP news reported.

Medin, a journalist with the daily Dagens ETC, was detained March 27 as he arrived at Istanbul airport to cover last month’s nationwide protests following the arrest of Istanbul’s popular mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. The journalist was jailed days later on charges of insulting Erdogan and membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Swedish media reported that Medin landed early Saturday at Stockholm airport, where he was welcomed by his wife and the Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard.

“All is well after all. I’m really tired in body and mind. But I feel good,” he said, according to Dagens ETC. “The pressure on my chest disappeared as soon as we lifted off the ground and we started heading home.”

Medin also said later on Saturday that “I’ve been thinking from day one about what to say at this moment. Long live freedom: freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of movement," Sveriges Television reported.

Medin said that he spent his prison time in solitary confinement in a ward for political prisoners. He said that he had not been subjected to violence, but that the isolation took its toll.

Kristersson said on X that “it is well known that Sweden and Türkiye have different views on quite a few and big things. But we have also developed a climate of cooperation that allows us to discuss quite difficult issues.”

Local media reported that while Medin's separate trial on terrorism charges would still take place, he would not be required to attend it.



Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and "most productive" he has had to date.

"Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"We discussed air defense issues and I'm grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats."

Zelenskiy said the two leaders had discussed "several other important matters" that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelenskiy and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow's lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.

Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelenskiy, Trump said: "They're going to need them for defense... They're going to need something because they're being hit pretty hard."

Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow's forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump's conversation with Putin on Thursday.