Sweden stops extradition of senior FETO terrorist to Turkey

A member of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) that Sweden's Supreme Court had blocked from being extradited to Türkiye was found to be one of the terror group's ringleaders.

Just weeks after Sweden signed an agreement with Türkiye allowing Stockholm to join NATO as long as it take steps to address Ankara's terrorism concerns, Swedish media reports had recently emerged that the court blocked the FETO member's extradition, who was identified as Yilmaz Aytan, a so-called covert imam running the terror group's schools in Afghanistan.

Since 2018, Aytan has had a permanent residence permit in Sweden, where he filed for asylum to escape efforts launched against the terror group. He has since been granted refugee status, according to Swedish media.

Authorities in Türkiye have uncovered that Aytan is a user of the organization's encrypted communication app ByLock and is among the top members of the terrorist organization.

Türkiye's Justice Ministry has filed a request with Sweden to extradite Aytan for the crime of "forming/leading an armed terrorist organization."