German-Turkish author Doğan Akhanlı, who was detained by Spanish police at Turkey’s request on Saturday, was released on Sunday, Deutsche Welle reported.
“The fight was worth it. Dogan Akhanlı is being released,” his lawyer Ilias Uyar said in a Facebook post, according to the report.
Akhanlı will be released from detention on condition that he remain in Madrid, Uyar added.
The 60-year-old writer was detained on Saturday at around 8:30 a.m. local time at his hotel in the southern Spanish city of Granada.
While the charges against him remain unclear, German officials said the move was politically motivated.
Having fled Turkey to Germany in 1991, Akhanlı was detained by Spanish police over an Interpol red notice earlier requested by Turkey.
Akhanlı is a member of International PEN and has written much on human rights issues as well as the Armenian “genocide.”
“His arrest was part of a targeted witch-hunt against critics of the Turkish government living abroad in Europe,” Akhanlı’s lawyer told German media.
Deutsche Welle said he was previously arrested in Turkey for opposition activities including running a leftist newspaper while also being briefly detained in August 2010 when he traveled to İstanbul on suspicion of manslaughter and robbery.
Akhanlı’s detention came only days after Swedish-Turkish writer Hamza Yalçın was taken under custody in Barcelona over another Interpol red notice requested by Turkey.
