The Swedish government has decided to strengthen border controls and take other measures to address the threat currently facing the country. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (Moderate Party) and Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate Party) presented the new measures at a press conference on Tuesday.
One of the most important measures is to strengthen internal border controls. A decision on this is expected to be taken on Thursday.
– It is extremely important to stop dangerous people from coming to Sweden, Kristersson said.
He stressed that Sweden is in a “dangerous situation”. The prime minister also mentioned the government’s plans to amend the Public Order Act to prevent the burning of the Koran.
– This is not about restricting freedom of expression, he said.
The 15 authorities involved in the Counter-Terrorism Coordination Council have also been tasked with strengthening their counter-terrorism work.
Kristersson was also asked about Richard Jomshof’s statements on Islam and the Social Democrats’ demands to remove the top Sweden Democrat from the post of chair of the justice committee.
– I think everyone in Sweden, including Richard Jomshof, should think twice before expressing themselves. No government tells the parliament what to do. Least of all a prime minister. I don’t interfere with which committee chairs the parliament has, Kristersson said.
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Sweden’s religious landscape has been transformed in a quarter of a century.While churches have been quietly closed, the number of mosques has skyrocketed by some 4,200 percent, Samnytt reports, based on data from the Swedish Agency for Aid to Religious Communities.
From a handful in 2000 to around 300 today, Muslim prayer rooms are spreading across the country. But behind the numbers lie issues of funding, influence and a rapidly changing society.
What is a mosque? The definition varies. Permanent places of worship with a minaret and dome count, but so do simple prayer rooms in basements and community halls.
The lack of clarity means that the actual number may be much higher, making an objective debate difficult. Nevertheless, the trend is clear: mosques are growing in number and their role is becoming increasingly controversial.
In Vasastan in central Stockholm, for example, the Masjid Aysha mosque has grown into a central meeting place for many Muslims, and in Helsingborg, a large-scale mosque is currently being planned, financed by international fundraising.
In Skärholmen, a project is underway aiming to create Northern Europe’s largest Muslim center, backed by millions of kronor from foreign donors. But the mosques are not just spiritual spaces. they are also symbols of a development that, according to critics, raises concern.
One of Malmö’s many mosques. Photo: Johan Wessman/News Oresund
The construction projects testify to ambition but also to a growing dependency that few dare to scrutinize. There are many indications that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are pumping money into Swedish mosques.
Samnytt’s report suggests that some regimes see prayer rooms as tools for spreading ideological messages.
Critics warn that foreign influence can fuel polarization and, in the worst cases, radicalization, while mosque representatives instead emphasize a role as bridge builders in the local community.
The climate of debate is further complicated by the fear of being labeled Islamophobic. Those who question the mosque boom are often met with harsh words, which can silence legitimate concerns about integration and security.
Christian meeting places are declining
Internationally, Sweden is not alone. In France, for example, laws against “Islamic separatism” have made headlines, while the UK is struggling to balance religious freedom and security.
In Sweden, however, there is often no basis for even having the conversation. Official statistics on mosques are scarce, and funding flows remain shrouded in mystery.
In parallel with the mosque boom, Christian spaces are shrinking. For example, the Church of Sweden has closed dozens of churches in recent decades. This contrasts with the rise of the new minarets.
Two Afghan nationals living in Germany and linked to the Islamic State have been sentenced to several years in prison for planning to carry out a terrorist attack on the Swedish parliament.
The men, aged 23 and 30 respectively, planned to shoot dead a large number of people in “revenge” for the high-profile Koran burnings.
The German prosecutor claims that the two were radicalized during the decade they lived in Germany, and the older of them is also said to have had direct contact with members of the Islamic State terror group. It was also allegedly IS that gave the Afghans the “mission” to carry out the massacre in Sweden. According to the prosecutor, the plan was to shoot dead at least ten people outside the parliament building.
However, the men’s terrorist plans failed. While trying to buy illegal weapons near the Czech border, they were stopped at a police checkpoint and their cell phones were confiscated, which revealed their intentions. It also emerged that they had spent a lot of time searching for detailed information about central Stockholm on the internet.
By this time, German intelligence had already been alerted to the men’s intentions by another unnamed foreign intelligence agency, and so they began to pinpoint the two for a few weeks.
Suicide bombings and mass murder
The 30-year-old was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison and the 23-year-old to 4 years and 2 months. During the trial, the older man confessed to planning to carry out a mass murder outside the Swedish parliament building. He was also convicted of membership of the terrorist organization.
IS Khorasan, to which the two men are linked, is the branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan and the surrounding area. It is responsible for numerous suicide bombings and mass killings in the region and gained international attention after carrying out an attack on Kabul airport in 2021, killing 13 US military personnel and at least 169 Afghan citizens.
The group also claimed responsibility for the bloody terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Moscow last year, which killed 145 people and injured 550.
Norwegian chicken producer Norsk Kylling has received halal certification from the Islamic Council of Norway. The production of halal chicken will be separated from the company’s regular operations and is expected to start soon.
The initiative is aimed at Norway’s still growing Muslim population, while at the same time raising criticism and questions about the adaptation of Norwegian food production to religious requirements.
Norsk Kylling has been working for almost two years to obtain halal certification. Production will take place on a separate production line to ensure that all requirements are met according to the standards of the Islamic Council of Norway, according to an official press release.
Hilde Talseth, CEO of Norsk Kylling, sees the move as an opportunity to expand the company’s product range and reach a wider customer base.
– As a major player in the Norwegian chicken market, our goal is to make chicken with better animal welfare available to more people. Now that we are certified to expand with our own halal production, we can also offer ECC certified chicken to a larger part of the population, says Talseth.
As the halal chicken will be produced separately, Norsk Kylling’s management says that the company’s supplies to its other customers will not be affected. The initial product range for halal production will consist of whole chickens, which will then be sold to subcontractors who will process and package them for final consumption.
The market for halal chicken is estimated by Norsk Kylling to be between 3,000 and 4,000 tons per year. Talseth says the company is now working on developing its own brand of halal chicken, which may include processed products.
She sees the Muslim population as an important market group and cites the company’s distribution network as a strength.
– If we can establish halal as a separate and distinct brand within REMA 1000, we will strengthen the halal offering across the country, she says.
Norsk Kylling: Norsk Kylling starter med sertifisert halalproduksjon https://t.co/RBUxfi7TPh
According to the Islamic Council of Norway, there is a great demand for halal-certified chicken, but the supply in the Norwegian food landscape has so far been limited.
The market for halal products in Norway is estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000 potential consumers, according to the Islamic Council of Norway, and the Chairman of the Islamic Council of Norway, Masoom Zubair, sees Norsk Kylling’s halal production as an important step towards meeting this demand.
– Norsk Kylling is taking its supply responsibility in an exemplary way by offering products that appeal to a wider range of consumers.
However, Halal certification has not been without its problems and has also been the subject of criticism. The process has been both long and extensive, with requirements placed on both the slaughtering and processing of the chicken to meet supposed halal standards.
At the same time, both Norsk Kylling and the Islamic Council of Norway emphasize that “strict animal welfare and quality remain unchanged”.
Sweden’s Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg believes that dressing young children in veils and other religious garments is completely unacceptable – and that it is something that should be reported to social services.
In an interview with the tax-funded SR Ekot on Saturday, Brandberg, who is also deputy minister of labor, reiterated her earlier message that the fight against so-called religious oppression is something she prioritizes, and that she also wants to make it illegal to force children to wear religious clothing – such as veils.
She emphasizes that the current legislation needs to be carefully examined and that religious coercion is not always completely obvious and clear, but can take more subtle forms – and that it can also be very difficult to prove in court that a parent has forced religious clothing on their children.
– My personal view is that every time a young child wears a veil, especially if it’s a very young child and especially if it’s the parents who are combining it with putting pressure on the staff not to let the child play with the boys at recess, every time that happens I think it should be grounds for a report of concern to social services so that social services can really intervene, she explains.
– Even with the current legislation, I wish we had intervened more, the minister continues.
The Liberals are divided on the issue, with parts of the party wanting to introduce a ban on veils in preschools and schools – while others oppose such a ban.
The “veil ban” proposal has also been criticized because the crimes of unlawful coercion and coercion by reputation already exist in Swedish law – laws that critics say are toothless and inadequate.
