The Church of Sweden works against loneliness at Christmas

Published December 25, 2023 – By Editorial staff

The Church of Sweden works actively to break down involuntary loneliness, including home visits and discussion groups throughout the year, but especially now during the Christmas season, when loneliness can feel especially heavy.

In 2022, 28% of the women and 24% of the men surveyed said they experienced some form of loneliness. Among children, 10% of boys and 19% of girls said they usually or always felt lonely. The National Board of Health has been commissioned to map involuntary loneliness in Sweden in order to reduce and prevent it and to increase knowledge about loneliness. The work is expected to be completed in February 2025.

During the Christmas season, loneliness can become more tangible and difficult to deal with for many people, and about 100,000 people contact the Priest on Call every year. The Church of Sweden has a priest on call every night of the year. It is also possible to contact a priest through chat and digital letters.

– It is easy for people who feel lonely to fall into a vicious circle: their health deteriorates and the risk of social withdrawal increases. This, in turn, can increase the feeling of loneliness, says Kimmo Kling, a priest and national coordinator of the Pastoral Care Service, in a press release.

The Swedish Church also works in its daily operations to break involuntary loneliness. This is done through home visits, conversation groups, and an open daily activity for those with free time during the day. Furthermore, they have the campaign Welcome at Christmas which aims to remind that the church is available during Christmas, for example, through services, concerts, and offering community and support.

– My appeal to those who feel lonely is to have the courage to ask for help. Many congregations are organizing Christmas dinners and gatherings over the weekend that are open to everyone, says Kling.

You do not have to be a member or a believer to contact or participate in activities within the Church of Sweden.

Contact the Church of Sweden

Priest on call

Open every evening from 21.00-06.00. Call 112 and ask for the priest on duty.

Swedish-Finnish telephone helpline

The Finnish helpline is open every evening from 21-23 at 020-26 25 00.

Videophone helpline for the deaf

The service is staffed by sign language priests and deacons. Open Mondays 10-16, Wednesdays 10-19 and Fridays 10-16. Can be reached at svenskakyrkan@ectalk.se

Like all priests, the on-call priests are bound by absolute confidentiality. The conversation is not recorded and what is said remains with the priest.

TNT is truly independent!

We don’t have a billionaire owner, and our unique reader-funded model keeps us free from political or corporate influence. This means we can fearlessly report the facts and shine a light on the misdeeds of those in power.

Consider a donation to keep our independent journalism running…

Swedish Prison Service opposes plan to lower criminal age to 13

Published today 10:22 am – By Editorial staff

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bullying doubled in Sweden – one in six girls affected

Published November 8, 2025 – By Editorial staff

Three students in every classroom are estimated to be victims of bullying, according to a new report from Friends, a Swedish anti-bullying organization. The organization is now raising the alarm that Sweden has the worst record in the Nordic region and argues that the government's school reform lacks the preventive measures needed to reverse the trend.

The new Friends report is based on a survey conducted by Novus during spring, in which 1,026 students aged 9-16 (grades 4-9) participated. The findings show that bullying continues to be a widespread problem in Swedish schools. Six out of ten students report having experienced some form of harassment, threats, or violence this year.

On average, three students per class are victims of bullying, and four out of ten do not feel comfortable at school. Although the majority of students believe that teachers take action against bullying, one in three still feel that adults turn a blind eye. One in four affected students also report that they lack a trusted adult at school.

According to Maja Frankel, secretary general of Friends, bullying in Sweden has doubled over the past decade.

We have the worst record in the Nordic region. We don't prioritize children's rights highly enough. If we want to turn this around, schools need resources to invest time in prevention – before something happens, not when it's too late. That costs money. We need more trusted adults in schools, says Maja Frankel in Nyhetsmorgon, a Swedish morning news program.

Girls most affected

Girls are particularly affected, with one in six girls experiencing bullying compared to one in nine boys. There are also differences in how they are affected: girls are more exposed to relational bullying – such as social exclusion, spreading rumors, peer pressure, or harassment of a sexual nature. Boys are more exposed to physical violence.

The Swedish government is currently implementing one of the largest reforms in the country's education system in thirty years, but Friends argues that the proposals fall short and lack preventive measures.

The proposals we're seeing right now are truly a betrayal of children. It's not about forcing safety through punishment or achieving better results through stricter measures. It's about protecting children and building warm, secure relationships, says Frankel.