The Swedish Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for the extradition to Turkey of a supporter of Ankara’s bête noire, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Swedish media reported on Tuesday.
It is now up to the Swedish government to decide whether to extradite the man, who would be the first PKK supporter handed over by Sweden to Turkey, Aftonbladet newspaper reported.
The 35-year-old had been sentenced to more than four years in prison in Turkey in 2014 for carrying a bag containing cannabis, according to the newspaper.
After being released on parole, he moved to Sweden, but was arrested in August at the request of the Turkish prosecutor’s office, which demanded that he serve the remainder of his sentence.
The man claims to be targeted by the Turkish authorities because of his support for the PKK.
Hundreds of people brandishing anti-NATO slogans and PKK flags marched in Stockholm on Sunday, denouncing new Swedish anti-terrorism legislation adopted, they said, under pressure from Turkey against Sweden's bid to join NATO.
The new law, which came into force on 1 June, introduces prosecutions for “participation in a terrorist organisation.”
It thus strengthens the country’s legislation in this area, one of the conditions set by Turkey for lifting its veto on Sweden joining the alliance, of which Ankara has been a member since 1952.
Re-elected on May 28 as head of Turkey, President Recep Tayyib Erdogan is demanding, in particular, that Sweden extradite several dozen Kurdish militants.
