Swedish prosecutors said Thursday that arrests of the intelligence service of a Kurdish representative and a Swedish diplomat were not linked to a journalist who faced “terror” charges in Turkiye.
The public broadcaster Sveriges Radio had alleged on Wednesday night that one of the suspects was connected with the case of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin, who is currently in custody in Turkey waiting for a trial before a position of belonging to a “terrorist” group.
The Swedish Security Service (SAPO) confirmed to AFP that two people had been recently arrested for “aggravated unauthorized management of secret information.”
Since then they had been released, but they were still suspicious, said toad. He refused to reveal any detail of the case.
Sveriges Radio said that one of the suspects in the case of toad was a Swedish citizen who was a main representative of the Kurds in northern Syria. The other was a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The station said it was not clear if the arrests had been made as a result of a Türkiye’s request or not.
But on Thursday, the Swedish Prosecutor’s authority published a statement refuting media reports.
“This is an individual case that has no links with other investigations in progress or legal procedures, in Sweden or in other countries,” said prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, and pointed out that the investigation was at an early stage.
Türkiye accused Medin, who works for the Swedish newspaper Dagens, etc., of being a member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an accusation he has denied.
Medin was arrested at the Istanbul airport on March 27 when he flew to cover mass protests that grabbed Turkey.
A Turkish court last month gave the suspended sentence of 11 months of 11 months for charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
To persuade Turkey to drop their veto when Sweden requested to join NATO, countries reached an agreement that included greater collaboration in “terrorism.”
The weekend, Sapo arrested a second diplomat for espionage suspicions. That diplomat was also released, but it is still suspicious, although the intelligence agency told AFP that it was related to a separate investigation.
Speaking to journalists outside a NATO meeting in Turkey, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Steargard confirmed that there were two ongoing investigations related to government employees.
“These are serious accusations, but I can’t say that,” said Steargard.
Steargard said he had spoken with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Wednesday about Medin’s case.
