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Polaris of Enlightenment

The Nordic Times

Polaris of Enlightenment

The Nordic Times

The Nordic Times

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https://nordictimes.com/tech/too-much-free-speech-on-x-major-swedish-newspaper-dn-leaves-platform/

Tech

Too much free speech on X – Major Swedish newspaper DN leaves platform

Published November 19, 2024 – By Editorial staff
Peter Wolodarski and the iconic "DN skyscraper" in Stockholm.
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Under Elon Musk's ownership, censorship on X (formerly Twitter) has been greatly reduced and the entrepreneur himself states that freedom of expression is very important to him.

Not everyone is happy about this development, however, and Peter Wolodarski, editor-in-chief of the Bonnier-owned newspaper DN (Dagens Nyheter), has announced that DN is boycotting the platform.

– Since Elon Musk took over, the platform has increasingly merged with his own and Donald Trump's political ambitions, while the climate on X has become more harsh and extreme. Therefore, for the time being, we will not publish anything there from our official accounts, he told his own magazine.

While arbitrary censorship for political reasons used to be commonplace on Twitter, users are now relatively free to write what they really think about the often biased reporting of DN and other establishment media without much risk of banning or suspension - and this is not at all popular with media executives.

– I think X is a lost platform, says Aftonbladet's editorial director Karin Schmidt, explaining that they left X already in 2023.

– Unlike X, I think it is so important that we are on Tiktok, where we can be a counterflow to fake news, she continues.

“Musk - a free speech fundamentalist”

The editor-in-chief of Swedish online magazine Kvartal, Jörgen Huitfeldt, agrees that there is sometimes a “rude and unpleasant” climate of conversation on X, but he has no plans to leave the platform.

– After all, many people are there, not least those who share journalistic content. It's a way for us to reach out really, it's that simple.

– Musk is a free speech fundamentalist, and I find it hard to believe that he will start censoring people in the same way he did under the Jack Dorsey regime, he continues.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/swedish-prison-service-opposes-plan-to-lower-criminal-age-to-13/

Sweden

Swedish Prison Service opposes plan to lower criminal age to 13

Published today 10:22 am – By Editorial staff
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Swedish government's proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13 is facing strong criticism. In its consultation response, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården) states that it is not equipped to receive such young children in prison and that they should be cared for in other ways.

By July 1 next year, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service is expected to have built prison units for children where both 15–17-year-olds and 13–14-year-olds convicted of serious crimes will serve sentences. At the same time, places at the special youth homes (SiS homes, state-run institutions for youth care) will be phased out.

In the consultation response, the Prison and Probation Service writes that imprisonment at a young age can lead to negative consequences, and that children "as young as 13 should be cared for in other ways".

— These concerns become more significant the younger the children in question are, says Elisabeth Lager, acting legal director, to TT.

The Prison and Probation Service is clear that the organization does not have the required resources. It lacks both the expertise and suitable facilities to handle children as young as 13 within prisons, detention centers, or community-based sanctions such as probation. Practical issues such as education must also be addressed. At the same time, it is noted that the level of the age of criminal responsibility is ultimately a political matter.

Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer writes that the government will "carefully analyze all consultation responses". He emphasizes that society must "care for children in a completely different way than today" in cases of the most serious crimes, both to protect victims and society, but also the children themselves.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/tech/italian-political-consultant-became-victim-of-spyware-program/

Tech

Italian political consultant became victim of spyware program

Totalitarianism

Published yesterday 10:51 am – By Editorial staff
Francesco Nicodemo.
3 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

An Italian political advisor who worked for center-left parties has gone public about being hacked through an advanced Israeli-developed spyware program. Francesco Nicodemo is the latest in a growing list of victims in a spyware scandal that is shaking Italy and raising questions about how intelligence services use surveillance technology.

Francesco Nicodemo, who works as a consultant for left-leaning politicians in Italy, waited ten months before publicly disclosing that he had been targeted by the Paragon spyware program. On Thursday, he chose to break his silence in a post on Facebook.

Nicodemo explained that he had previously not wanted to publicize his case because he "didn't want to be used for political propaganda," but that "the time has now come".

"It's time to ask a very simple question: Why? Why me? How is it possible that such a sophisticated and complex tool was used to spy on a private citizen, as if he were a drug dealer or a subversive threat to the country?", Nicodemo wrote. "I have nothing more to say. More people must speak out. Others must explain what happened".

Extensive scandal grows

Nicodemo's revelation once again expands the scope of the ongoing spyware scandal in Italy. Among those affected are several journalists, migration activists, prominent business leaders, and now a political consultant with a history of working for the center-left party Partito Democratico and its politicians.

The online publication Fanpage reported first that Nicodemo was among the people who received a notification from WhatsApp in January that they had been targeted by the spyware program.

Questions about usage

Governments and spyware manufacturers have long claimed that their surveillance products are used against serious criminals and terrorists, but recent cases show that this is not always the case.

— The Italian government has provided certain spyware victims with clarity and explained the cases. But others remain disturbingly unclear, says John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab who has investigated spyware companies and their abuses for years.

— None of this looks good for Paragon, or for Italy. That's why clarity from the Italian government is so essential. I believe that if they wanted to, Paragon could give everyone much more clarity about what's going on. Until they do, these cases will remain a burden on their shoulders, adds Scott-Railton, who confirmed that Nicodemo received the notification from WhatsApp.

Intelligence services' involvement

It is still unclear which of Paragon's customers hacked Nicodemo, but an Italian parliamentary committee confirmed in June that some of the victims in Italy were hacked by Italian intelligence services, which report to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government.

In February, following revelations about the first victims in Italy, Paragon severed ties with its government customers in the country, specifically the intelligence services AISE and AISI.

The parliamentary committee COPASIR later concluded in June that some of the publicly identified Paragon victims, namely the migration activists, had been legally hacked by Italian intelligence services. However, the committee found no evidence that Francesco Cancellato, editor of the news site Fanpage.it which had investigated the youth organization of Meloni's governing party, had been hacked by the intelligence services.

Paragon, which has an active contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, states that the U.S. government is one of its customers.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

FACTS: Paragon

Paragon Solutions is an Israeli cybersecurity company that develops advanced spyware for intelligence services and law enforcement agencies. The software can be used to monitor smartphones and other digital devices.

The company was acquired by American private equity giant AE Industrial and has since been merged with cybersecurity firm REDLattice. Paragon's clients include the US government, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

In February 2024, Paragon terminated its contracts with Italian intelligence services AISE and AISI after several Italian citizens, including journalists and activists, were identified as victims of the company's spyware.

Paragon is marketed as a tool against serious crime and terrorism, but its use in Italy has raised questions about whether the spyware is also being used against political opponents and journalists.

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/syrian-man-convicted-of-rape-remains-in-sweden-six-years-after-deportation-order/

Sweden

Syrian man convicted of rape remains in Sweden six years after deportation order

Migrant violence

Published November 10, 2025 – By Editorial staff
The tent at the Emmaboda Festival 2017 where the Syrian migrant Noraldin Alhamamy, now known as "Emil Jordensson," raped a 15-year-old girl.---**Context note:** Emmaboda Festival is a music festival held in Emmaboda, a small town in southern Sweden. The case refers to a criminal incident that occurred at the festival in 2017.
2 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

A migrant who was sentenced to deportation for aggravated rape of a 15-year-old girl at a music festival in 2017 is still in Sweden. During this time, the 30-year-old has committed new crimes and ran as a candidate in the Swedish church elections this summer. Now Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell calls the situation "sick" and promises legislative changes.

The 30-year-old Syrian citizen Noraldin Alhamamy came to Sweden in 2015 and received a permanent residence permit in the fall of 2016. Just six days before that decision, he was convicted of his first crime in the country: sexual molestation, reports Fria Tider.

In the summer of 2017, he committed the crime that would lead to deportation. At the Emmaboda Festival in southern Sweden, he raped a 15-year-old girl in her tent. He threatened her with a knife and covered her mouth during the assault. The girl developed post-traumatic stress disorder and has described how she lives in constant fear and anxiety.

— He has destroyed my life, the girl said during the trial.

The man, who now goes by the name Emil Jordensson, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and deportation with a ten-year entry ban. However, the deportation has not been carried out because he has claimed several obstacles to enforcement.

Claimed conversion and military service

First, he claimed that he risked being called up for military service in the Syrian army. Later, he claimed that he had converted to Christianity, which he argued would put him in danger in his home country. His case has been heard in the Migration Court of Appeal and has become precedent-setting for other courts. Despite being denied refugee status due to the severity of his crime, he remains in Sweden more than six years after the verdict.

During this time, he has committed additional crimes. Last year, he was convicted of aggravated assault against a public official after making a revenge visit to a police officer who had arrested him, as well as for assaulting his wife, car theft, and harassment. The crimes were deemed to have been committed during a psychosis and he was sentenced to probation with supervision.

This summer, it was revealed in the regional newspaper Smålandsposten that the man was running as a candidate in the Church elections, which was possible because he is registered in the Swedish population register. He withdrew his candidacy after the revelation.

New legislation planned

— It is of course sick. It is completely unacceptable, says Migration Minister Johan Forssell to the Bonnier newspaper Expressen.

The government will propose a new law called "tolerated stay" to handle people in this situation. They will then not receive temporary residence permits, be prohibited from leaving a certain area, have reporting obligations, and not be able to access Swedish welfare or register in the population register.

The man has been in detention since September after the Swedish Migration Agency decided that he cannot be held in regular detention due to his criminal record.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/25-years-since-the-murder-of-daniel-wretstrom/

Sweden

25 years since the murder of Daniel Wretström

Migrant violence

Updated November 9, 2025, Published November 9, 2025 – By Editorial staff
The artist Markus Andersson holds up a painting of Daniel Wretström, who became a victim and symbol of anti-Swedish violence.
3 minute read
Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The young nationalist Daniel Wretström was brutally assaulted and stabbed to death in a ditch on December 9, 2000, in Salem, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, by a gang of immigrants.

The murderer Khaled Odeh, who slit the throat of the 17-year-old, and his four accomplices all escaped prison sentences, and the murder has become symbolic of the increased anti-Swedish violence in Sweden.

Now a memorial demonstration is being held on December 6, 25 years after his murder, which aroused strong revulsion among young Swedes.

The murder of Wretström occurred at a time when Swedish media the year before had exposed 62 people as nazis and a "threat to democracy." Prime Minister Göran Persson and other leading Social Democrats promised in major media statements the same year as the murder to "crush" the racists.

Mass immigration to Sweden had at that time seriously begun to affect the country's demographic composition, creating deep ethnic and cultural divisions while the pursued policy was driven in the direction of systematically transforming one of the world's most homogeneous countries into a multicultural society.

The policy, which was declared by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme as early as 1975 and which from the 1990s was seriously driven from the highest political level, contributed to increased insecurity and became the starting point for the gang violence that has today spiraled out of control and made Sweden one of Europe's most unsafe countries.

The counter-reaction, primarily among Sweden's youth who were earliest affected by the insecurity and societal transformation, became an increased nationalism. The development gained momentum in a national movement that encompassed both politics, culture, music and other expressions with emphasis on patriotism, the preservation of Swedishness and an increased national self-awareness with demands to stop mass immigration.

Swedish mass media were a driving force in the same direction as the government with the transformation of Sweden toward multiculturalism and contributed to demonizing all expressions and reactions against this direction, which promoted subcultures and diminished the legitimacy of all forms of resistance. The mass media's actions also contributed to holding back nationalist parties like the Sweden Democrats in public opinion and drove unserious individuals into organizations working for national self-preservation.

Young Swedes who reacted against the development lacked channels and were demonized as "xenophobic," which strongly drove polarization and spurred young immigrants to threats and acts of violence against Swedes.

The young nationalist Daniel Wretström became a victim of the political and media campaign and was murdered in Salem, a Stockholm suburb, which came to be symbolic of the increased anti-Swedish violence in Sweden. In his memory, a torch-lit procession was organized and the so-called Salem Demonstration gathered thousands of Swedes annually during the early 2000s, primarily younger people.

On December 6, 25 years after the murder, a demonstration is once again being arranged to honor the memory of the murdered young nationalist. The organizer writes on their website that the demonstration is politically independent. As with the demonstrations of the 2000s, participants gather at Rönninge commuter train station to march to the place where Wretström lost his life.

Editorial staff
editorial@nordictimes.com