The plane from Istanbul landed shortly after midnight in Sweden. In a video posted by Andreas Gustavsson, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Dagens ETC", on X, Medin's heavily pregnant wife Sofie Axelsson is seen embracing him as he gets off the plane.
"Now you're home, Joakim", writes Gustavsson.
Dagens ETC was Medin's employer during the reporting trip in Turkey when he was arrested.
Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) was also present at Arlanda to receive him.
It's good. It's relatively good. Very tired, Medin said to Malmer Stenergard after landing, according to Expressen and Aftonbladet.
Joakim Medin flew home on a regular flight with a layover in Berlin, according to the newspapers. According to earlier information from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M), he traveled home to Sweden accompanied by personnel from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
"Hard work in relative silence has yielded results", writes Kristersson on the Government Offices' website.
Kristersson thanks the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for their hard work, and he also refers to foreign support in the work to get Medin released:
"Thanks also to my European colleagues who have been helpful in the process. But above all, welcome home Joakim!"
Lawyer delivered the message
The message about Medin's release came to Medin's wife from lawyer Veysel Ok on Thursday.
Medin, who has been imprisoned for 51 days, was sentenced to a conditional sentence for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has also been charged with terrorist offenses.
I have a little trouble feeling all the emotions right now, said Sofie Axelsson – who also works for Dagens ETC – earlier on Friday while waiting for news about the plane taking off.
But even though Medin has been released and has been allowed to leave the country, the charges of terrorist offenses will still be tried in Turkey in Medin's absence, according to the newspaper.
Intensive diplomatic work has preceded the release, according to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Government Offices.
Talks with Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) spoke with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in connection with the NATO meeting in Turkish Belek. If any new information about Medin was given, she does not want to say.
I don't go into what was said in our conversation.
After the news of the release, Malmer Stenergard writes on X that she feels "an enormous pride over the employees at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the foreign authorities for the work that we have conducted in 51 days".
"That work has led to Joakim Medin now getting to come home to Sweden again, and be reunited with his wife, relatives, and colleagues. Now Joakim Medin and his wife will get to prepare themselves in peace and quiet to become parents", she writes.
The organization Utgivarna is delighted with the news:
"It's an enormous relief for his relatives and colleagues, but also for journalism in Sweden. Journalists must be able to report and scrutinize, without risking being arrested and charged just for doing their job", writes Utgivarna's vice chairman Anne Lagercrantz, who is also CEO of SVT.
Medin has consistently denied any wrongdoing and said that the charges only concern his journalism.
Journalist Joakim Medin traveled to Istanbul on assignment for the newspaper Dagens ETC on March 27 to report on the extensive protests in the country, after Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested.
Medin, who has visited Turkey as a journalist several times, was arrested directly at the airport.
He was then moved to the high-security prison Marmara in Silivri outside Istanbul, where many of Turkey's political prisoners are or have been held. Medin was held on the same section as the imprisoned mayor Imamoglu.
On April 23, he was charged with participating in a terrorist organization, spreading terrorist propaganda, and insulting the president.
In a first trial in Ankara regarding the charge of insulting Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he was sentenced to a conditional sentence for insulting the president.
He was released on May 16 and landed in Sweden shortly after midnight on May 17. But even though Medin has been released and has been allowed to leave the country, the charges of terrorist offenses will still be tried in Turkey in Medin's absence, according to Dagens ETC.
