Swedish-Kurdish politician Lütfi Baksi has been arrested by Turkish police at Istanbul Airport, according to his son, Kurdo Baksi. The arrest was reported by Sweden’s TT news agency on Thursday, 22 October. Baksi, 83, is a former leader of the pro-Kurdish party KADEP.
Kurdo Baksi raises concerns about his father’s health
His son, the writer and journalist Kurdo Baksi, told TT in an email that his father has dementia, heart problems and diabetes. He said his father can barely walk and usually relies on a walker or cane, according to the report carried by TV4.
“I am very worried about my father,” Kurdo Baksi wrote.
Lütfi Baksi was sentenced to prison in Turkey in 2020
In June 2020, a court in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey, sentenced Lütfi Baksi to six years and three months in prison over alleged links to a terrorist organisation. Baksi, who was living in Sweden at the time, rejected the accusation and said he was being persecuted by Turkish authorities, according to TT’s reporting published by Göteborgs-Posten.
Baksi, a Swedish citizen, said at the time that his political party advocated resolving the Kurdish question through dialogue rather than violence. His lawyer planned to appeal the conviction, but the subsequent outcome of that appeal has not been established in the reports available.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT also reported his arrest. It remains unclear whether the detention is connected to the 2020 conviction or what will happen next.
