The court went on to rule the prosecution had “failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the 30-year-old man was guilty of arson,” highlighting the forensic examination of the crime scene and the witnesses had failed to produce sufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict. “It appears to be obvious that [the man] sympathizes with IS [Isis], something which could indicate he had a motive to start the fire but does not prove that he did,” the court wrote. The Swedish security service, Säpo, was less than sympathetic to the verdict and opened a case under Sweden's Act on Foreign Immigration Control legislation, arguing the evidence was enough to prove the man had links with Isis and should be deported. The security situation in Sweden, however, is not restricted to the Muslim community.
On the 3rd of February 2017, three suspected Neo-Nazis of the Nordic Resistance Movement were arrested by Swedish anti-terror police37 for a bomb attack at an immigration centre in Gothenburg, where a staff member was seriously injured. Säpo very quickly linked the attack with two other failed attempts – one on a socialist café and the other on a temporary housing camp for migrants. According to Mats Ljungqvist of the anti-terror prosecutor's office, all three explosive devices were “placed in public areas.”
Formed by members of Sweden’s White Aryan Resistance in the 1990s, the Nordic Resistance Movement38 calls for an “immediate stop to mass immigration to the Scandinavian countries,” and seeks to implement “the repatriation of the majority of peoples that are not of North European descent” from Nordic countries at the earliest opportunity. Now made up of a larger coalition of Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Norwegian movements, it aims to bring about the creation of one “self-sufficient state with a common military, common currency and central bank.” Following a well-known fascist model, the group desire control of mass media and openly wish to ban any foreign publications which they consider “hostile to the people of the north.” According to their plans, the Nordic State ideologues envisage they would introduce national conscription and significantly expand the military, while those who completed service would always retain their primary weapon and kit. Under the principles they set out, European Union membership and “other similar associations” would also be immediately be terminated and a lasting imposition placed on the public to “aid in the defence of the nation towards domestic as well as foreign enemies.”
The movement has a long history of extremism and violence. Even potted examples paint a disturbing picture of an organisation which more than echoes the Islamic State, its declared enemy. In January 2006, a day before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a handful of activists held a demonstration, burning the flag of Israel and draping a “we love Aryans” banner over a bridge. A few months later, four members were sentenced to prison for inciting hatred. They have been in Söderhamn, handing out leaflets linking homosexuality with paedophilia. In December 2007, courts sentenced Niklas Frost, an activist, to five years in prison for attempted manslaughter – he was arrested for stabbing an anti-fascism protester during clashes between the groups which had taken place in September. A year later, in 2008, Swedish police seized a large number of weapons and explosives found in Värmdö and its western suburbs. Three members were arrested on suspicion of larceny and “preparation to the devastation and endangering of the public.” This is terrorism in all but a name in law.
Even at the start of my investigation, in the initial stages of research, it was apparent Sweden does have problems with violent acts, in particular those aimed at causing fear and harm, some of which are ideologically motivated, rather than simply related to criminal networks – Mafia styled organisations and gangs engaged in targeted intimidation and retaliation. But, in the country’s recent history, there had only been one officially recorded terror incident: in December 2010, a suicide bomber was the only fatality in an attempted attack on Stockholm.
On the 11th of December 2010, two bombs exploded in central Stockholm39, killing the bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen. The first explosion occurred when a parked Audi 80 exploded at the intersection of Olof Palmes and Drottninggatan in the city centre. A forensic examination by the fire service concluded the car had contained bottles of liquefied petroleum gas which caused a sequence of explosions after the main detonation. The car bomb had a very limited impact, luckily, with only two people being treated at the hospital having both been admitted with minor injuries. The second explosion was twelve minutes later at the junction of Bryggargatan and Drottninggatan, a short distance away. The attacker’s body was discovered at the location and the police quickly made a statement that the suicide bomber was the only fatality.
Reports published after the bombing state al-Abdaly had carried six pipe-bombs with him but only one exploded. A metal pipe and a rucksack filled with metal fasteners – a home-made a nail bomb – and an unknown substance was found. The substance was thought to be an unsophisticated but effective, home-made explosive. According to witnesses in the packed shopping street, the bomber was shouting “something in Arabic” before detonating the bomb within metres of the doorway of a busy shop. I have watched the closed-circuit television footage of the second explosion, which was released the following day by the Aftonbladet newspaper and, though the bomber himself is just off camera, the lack of other fatalities is astonishing.
It emerged during the course of the terrorism investigation that, about ten minutes before the explosions, an email was sent to Säpo and Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT), a Swedish news agency. The message apparently referred to the deployment of Swedish troops in Afghanistan and drawings of Muhammad as a dog by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks. “Now your children, daughters and sisters will die in the same way our brothers and sisters die. Our actions will speak for themselves. As long as you don't end your war against Islam and degradation against the prophet and your foolish support for the pig [Lars] Vilks,” the email is reported to have said. Sound files in Swedish and Arabic were also included.
It appears, however, al-Abdaly was radicalised in the UK, where he obtained a degree at the University of Bedfordshire in 2004. During his stay in Britain, he lived in Luton for almost a decade and reports which came out after the bombing say he became more religious and more angry in the late 2000s. At some point, while Ramadan was taking place in 2007, he allegedly stormed out of the Luton mosque when confronted about his beliefs and was forbidden to return. While preaching, Al-Abdaly had, according to witnesses who approached the authorities in the wake of Stockholm, tried to recruit other Muslims who shared or sympathised with his political views.
2017 brought with it new challenges for Sweden but not all of them were based in fact.
On Saturday the 18th of February 2017, a year after the Turkish Cultural Centre bombing in Fittja, the newly elected President of the United States stood on the podium at a rally in Florida, talking about the need to keep US Citizens safe in the light of world events. “You look at what’s happening, last night in Sweden. Who would believe this?” Donald Trump told the relatively small crowd of supporters40.
The gathering formed part of Trump’s 2020 election campaign, it appears – an oddity made possible by his early registration under the permissible PAC rules in January, meaning he can fundraise and campaign for election under the different standards afforded despite being in office under the constitutional rules of the White House. Effectively, he can legally separate his electioneering behaviour from his official position, even where this creates a reality chasm. There is also a more disturbing element to this early registration. Filed on January 20th, 2017, the paperwork confirms that Trump submitted an “FEC Form 2” in order to “ensure compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act.” For the record, it is worth noting former President Barack Obama did not file for his 2012 re-election bid until April 2011 but the form being filed with the Federal Elections Commission simply meant Trump could engage with and gain support from financial donors and other groups throughout his presidency. But, more importantly,
not for profit organisations would no longer be able to engage in political speech under the 501(c)(3) rule of the FEC without running the risk of losing their non-profit status. In practical terms, it prevents activists from forming not for profit groups which they could funnel money into for the purposes of opposing Trump's initiatives for the duration of his term. Seemingly, Trump worked out a simple way to tip the scales in his own favour, which doesn’t look much like draining the swamp. It appears to be, to me at least, a calculated act of political eugenics.
Twenty-four hours before Trump spoke in Florida, on Friday the 17th of February 2017, there were no terror attacks in Sweden. Pretty much nothing happened, as a matter of fact. A man was killed in an industrial accident, a drunk driver got chased through Stockholm in a police pursuit, and some roads were closed due to bad weather, but there were no incidents of terrorism. Outside of Sweden but related to it, the only noteworthy and relevant occurrence was the broadcast of a Fox News documentary in the US which claimed a surge in violent crime and rape was taking place since the country adopted an ‘open door’ immigration policy in 2013.
Trump’s remark caused bemusement across the globe, with Sweden officially rebutting the suggestion anything had happened. Some media outlets speculated Trump may have been directly influenced by watching the Fox documentary and attributed the comment to a misunderstanding of this.
The police officers featured in the film, made by YouTuber Ami Horowitz, called the director a “madman” who misrepresented their views41. “It was supposed to be about crime in high-risk areas. Areas with high crime rates. There wasn’t any focus on migration or immigration,” said one of the officers, Anders Göranzon. Discussing the issue with Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter, Göranzon said Horowitz edited their answers to fit segments of film which were to completely different questions in the interview. Horowitz responded, standing by his work, telling the same newspaper: “They are completely wrong about them answering questions I didn’t ask. They are one hundred percent wrong. And that is all on the videotape.” However, Swedish freelance cameramen Emil Marczak, who filmed the segment with the police officers for Horowitz, has confirmed the footage was edited. He told reporters: “I would never have participated if I had known how unethically and frivolously the material would be edited. To double check that my memory is correct I have gone through the raw material and it confirms the policemen’s view of the course of events.”
The BBC responded to Trump’s comment with incredulity, as many other mainstream outlets did, while Carl Bildt, the former Swedish Prime Minister, simply tweeted: “What has Trump been smoking?” Conversely, right-wing figures including Nigel Farage took to the media to back Trump’s claims of immigrant-driven crime afflicting Sweden. Farage himself insisted on his London-based LBC radio show that Malmö was the “rape capital of Europe.” Many ‘alternative’ news outlets, including the ultra-right website Breitbart – once headed by Trump’s Special Advisor Steve Bannon – also backed the assertions and Sweden very quickly found itself being portrayed as a violent haven for immigrant criminality on the brink of social collapse. The White House press office, then led by Sean Spicer, backed this further, releasing a list of what they called “un-reported” terror attacks across the world42 – including reference to the Malmö fire-bomb of October 2016.
As a result, alternative narratives were driven very swiftly into overdrive, gaining traction across the full spectrum of social media and web-based publications used as platforms by alt-right figures and organisations. This included Alex Jones’ Info Wars, and it was at this point the self-declared “editor at large,” Paul Joseph Watson, stepped in. Tweeting to 503,200 followers, the British video-blogger – who also runs websites Prison Planet and Propaganda Matrix – declared: “Any journalist claiming Sweden is safe; I will pay for travel costs & accommodation for you to stay in crime-ridden migrant suburbs of Malmo.” Only a few hours later, Watson had confirmed his offer as genuine, personally donating $2,000 dollars to one journalist, Tim Pool. He then continued posting inflammatory images and messages about Sweden while refusing to engage with any other people who’d accepted his unilateral contract offer, despite media coverage on both sides of the Atlantic. In response, I launched a successful Crowdfunder to take Watson to Small Claims over breach of contract and to raise funds to travel to Malmö and ensure balanced coverage was produced. At this time, the court aspect is still ongoing.
Up until I got involved, my understanding of crime – in particular, rape and sexual offences – in Sweden had been accrued through my reading of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. According to interviews with the late writer’s family, he’d taken up a narrative against violence towards women having witnessed a gang rape as a young man43 and carried a form of guilt or horror with him until his unexpected death. Throughout the first book in the series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Larsson used statistics to punctuate the primary partitions between the chapters, “13% of all women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship,” for example. Whether or not the figures were based in fact has long since become irrelevant, however. The book was first published in 2005, the year sexual assault law was changed in Sweden, with a further overhaul of the legislation taking place in 2013. This made substantial changes to crime recording practice by the police. I am though, still, an international expert in crime data so it didn’t take long to make an initial assessment of the likely landscape.
In general, Swedish crime figures44 show upwards movement in fraud and violence against the person, marginally increasing in 2016, while drug and theft offences decreased over the same year. Although the number of rapes did increase by 13% in the same period, the overall total was still lower than in 2014. It is worth comparing the total number of reported rapes nationally – six and a half thousand in a population of nearly ten million – with the United States, where crime recording varies state to state. In the US there were nearly one hundred and seventy-five thousand victims of rape recorded in the last national count of 2013, though the under-reporting estimates from the Department of Justice indicate only 55% of rape is notified to the American authorities. Set against the much larger population of almost three hundred and nineteen million, the risk of rape – though the figures don’t have direct parity, not least due to the higher rate of under-reporting in the US – is almost the same (within 0.01%). However, with the figures adjusted to account for estimated under-reporting, the per capita rate in the US almost doubles. In relative terms, I can say it is clear in the figures that Sweden is a safe country when compared to the rest of the world, and also has a high rating in terms of public trust of the police – a view which foreign visitors to Sweden often confirm too.
While this initial assessment was done remotely, while I was still planning the trip, Watson’s funded video-maker, Tim Pool, agreed. He concluded his trip by telling the Swedish media it was a “paradise compared to Chicago,” even though he had given an account of being escorted from the Stockholm district of Rinkeby by police over safety fears when youths began to pull hoods up around him45. The Swedish police service vehemently denied Pool’s account, officially stating that local youths were upset at being filmed without permission, while the police themselves were only in the same area due to a community poetry evening.
With Horowitz already having damaged media relations with the police, tensions in the Rinkeby area were undoubtedly also high in respect of foreign film crews and, only days before Pool arrived, a Russian television unit had been in the same district reportedly offering youths four hundred Kronor (around forty pounds) to “create some action on camera.”
“They came up to us and said they wanted to see some action. They wanted to bribe us 400 [Kronor] each,” one Rinkeby resident, told the Danish radio station Radio24syv46.
Interestingly, in terms of population growth, which captures immigration, there is still little difference between the US and Sweden in the official figures47, barring sca
le. Sweden ranks, for what such tables are worth, at 139th in the world with a population growth rate of 0.79% per year, whereas the United States comes in lower, at 142nd, with a growth rate of 0.77%. In real terms, by which I mean converting this to a basic head count, Sweden grew by seventy-nine thousand people at the last count while the US population increased by around two and half million, over thirty-one times the Nordic figures. Sweden has taken in somewhere in the region of two hundred thousand asylum seekers and refugees since 2013, which is a higher per capita rate than any other European country by some margin. After a spike in 2015, with a huge surge of nearly one hundred and sixty-five thousand people coming into the country in the twelve months, extra border checks were introduced and financial incentives began to be offered to those migrants willing to return to their homes. The statistics are comprehensively reported – with rolling monthly data – by the Migrationsverket48 and their clear information bulletins show migration plummeted in 2016. The largest incoming ethnic group was then Syrian, which was unsurprising given the current war and chemical weapons deployments in the country. The displacement of the population caused by what was fundamentally a civil war, now muddied by Turkish, Russian, and IS insurgency has been a significant driver for migration to Europe. There is a rational argument that this has also benefitted Russia, at least in terms of the negative impact on European unity over recent years, and the situation has certainly driven the rise of far-right, anti-immigration politics into the mainstream.
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