Spanish police detained Kurdish patriot Ahmet Dikmen, who has been living in Belgium since 2013, during his trip to the Valencia region.

On Saturday, 12 July, Ahmet Dikmen was taken into custody and transferred to Madrid without informing his family, where he was placed under arrest.

Dikmen’s family said: “They have not provided us with any information since Saturday. At first, they told us he was in Valencia and would appear before a judge. On Sunday, they said he would be taken to Madrid. But around 12:30 p.m., the police called and said he had arrived in Madrid last night and would be brought before a court with a request for extradition.”

Family members stated that around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Ahmet Dikmen was allowed to call. They learned that he had been sent to prison and that a 40-day period was granted to obtain information from Turkey regarding the extradition request.

The family members reacted to the arrest and the threat of extradition, emphasizing that Ahmet Dikmen had been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Turkey purely for political reasons.