May 4: The terrorist who turned out not to be a terrorist, but was chased by the police all over Sweden in November 2015, Mutar Muthanna Majid, demanded 1 million kronor (about $110,000) in damages from the Swedish government. However, the Chancellor of Justice decided that the standard sum for those wrongly incarcerated was enough compensation. Majid was held in custody for four days, which means he gets 12,000 kronor ($1,300).
May 4: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to the defense of Sweden’s Muslim Minister of Housing Mehmet Kaplan, who was forced to resign after his connections to Islamists and neo-Fascists were revealed, as was his defamatory comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany. According to Erdogan, however, the forced resignation of Kaplan was symptomatic for how Muslims are treated in the West: “Just look at what Sweden has done to a Muslim who reached a position in Cabinet,” Erdogan indignantly said.
May 4: It is now up to Sweden’s Supreme Court to decide if an Algerian, Karim Ageri, should be deported from Sweden after knifing a 16-year-old girl because she refused to have sex with him. November 10, 2015, two teenage Swedish girls visited an asylum house for “unaccompanied refugee children” in the Stockholm metropolitan area. Karim Ageri, who claimed to be 16 years old, groped one of the girls, who climbed out a window to get away from him. Ageri then followed her, and slashed her face twice with a knife. The prosecutor in the case argued that Ageri is at least 21 years old, and should therefore be tried as an adult and, after serving his sentence, deported. However, the Municipal Court did not agree, and sentenced the Algerian to juvenile detention. The Court of Appeals increased the sentence to 18 months in prison, followed by deportation. Prosecutor My Hedström says she is now looking forward to having the case tried by the Supreme Court, to get a precedent on how “refugee children” who commit serious crimes should be handled legally.
May 4: The National Board of Health and Welfare reported that the large number of asylum seekers who arrived in Sweden in 2015 has put a huge strain on Swedish healthcare services, especially primary care, dental care and psychiatry. Language barriers, combined with a shortage of interpreters, exacerbates the problem. Many asylum seekers have bad teeth, and 20-30% are thought to have psychiatric problems. Increased pressure on the health service has led to a shortage of hospital beds, limited availability and longer waits.
May 5: Five “unaccompanied refugee children” suspected of gross sexual coercion were apprehended, and remanded into custody. The suspects, who claim to be in their mid-teens, allegedly assaulted a young man at the asylum house where all of them were staying. The crime was initially classified as rape, but later changed to gross sexual coercion, aggravated assault and unlawful threats.
May 5: Khalid Salim Tarabeih, 20, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for child rape. According to the indictment, Tarabeih promised to buy alcohol for a 14-year-old girl, but once they were alone in a wooded area, he demanded sex in return. He told the girl he had served time for violent crimes, which scared her to the point of not daring to resist him as he raped her. Since Tarabeih is a Swedish citizen, he cannot be deported.
May 8: The Swedish media almost never reports on the violence and misogyny in immigrant-heavy areas of Sweden, but the Norwegian television channel NRK aired a story on the infamous Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, and showed how their own reporters had been attacked there. In the segment, a police officer talked about how the police are losing control of the Swedish “no-go zones,” a point that was proven by Norwegian journalists being attacked and subjected to stone throwing.
May 9: An Iraqi citizen, Hosar Mahmood, 22, has once again been convicted of rape — this time of a hospitalized woman. In 2013, he broke into an apartment, severely beat its owner, and then raped his teenage daughter. That time, Mahmood was sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated rape — but was freed after serving two-thirds of the time, as is the legal practice in Sweden. This time, the sentence was more lenient — two years and two months. He will not be deported because, the court said, he was granted permanent residency status prior to the age of 15.
May 9: The fear that Sweden is being Islamized was evident when the news broke that a new mosque is planned in Halmstad. The municipality received many angry e-mails, such as:
- “Building mosques in Sweden means you are welcoming the murderers into your own nation.”
- “Armed Muslims will gather in the mosques.”
- “People will ignore the weapon laws and arm themselves if you do not stop the Muslim invasion.”
A representative of the Muslim group that wants to build the mosque told Swedish public radio: “There are many Muslims in Halmstad, and I think it is only fair they should have a mosque to go to”.
May 9: A report from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning concluded that there is a shortage of housing in four out of five Swedish municipalities. Young people and the elderly are the worst off. The reason is the rapid population growth due to third-world asylum immigration, which is expected to continue and aggravate the problem.
May 9: A mother of three from the village of Höör opened up her home to two “unaccompanied refugee children”, and let them move into her 10-year-old daughter’s room. One of the men, Isak Andai from Eritrea, who claims he is 15 years old, then snuck into the daughter’s bed one night and started molesting her. Andai, who is believed to be significantly older than 15, was sentenced to juvenile detention and will not be deported.
May 9: A 25-year-old asylum seeker from the Congo, was remanded into custody, suspected of setting a waste bin on fire in the cottage where he was staying in Pite havsbad. The fire was extinguished, but according to the prosecution there was a great risk of it spreading. Pite havsbad is one of Europe’s largest seaside resorts, nicknamed “The Swedish Riviera.” In January 2016, its owner made a deal with the Immigration Service to house 1,000-2,000 asylum seekers, mainly in the winter months.
May 11: One of the many “unaccompanied refugee children” who have lately amused themselves by sexually attacking others at public swimming pools, was found guilty of sexually molesting three girls, aged 8-10, at a pool in Överkalix. The man, who claims he is 16 years old, was sentenced to 35 hours of community service and 16,000 kronor (about $1,800) in damages.
May 11: Södertörn Municipal Court recently sentenced a Syrian man to five years in prison, followed by deportation, for aggravated battery in Syria in 2012 and crimes against international law. Among the evidence against him was a film, where he could be seen severely beating a tied-up man. The verdict was appealed to the Court of Appeals. Once there, however, the victim emerged and said he wanted to testify, and the case was sent back to the lower court for a new trial. According to the victim, the perpetrator and he belonged to the same rebel group, and the reason for the abuse was a conflict between the men. The Municipal Court therefore rejected the charges on the crimes against international law, and convicted the Syrian only of aggravated battery. Still, the victim’s description of how he was bound and tortured for days led the court to sharpen the sentence to seven years imprisonment, deportation and damages of 268,000 kronor ($30,000).
May 13: Sweden and Morocco signed an agreement regarding the many Moroccan street children who roam the streets of Stockholm and Gothenburg — they are to be deported back to their homeland. Negotiations have been ongoing for quite some time, but did not move forward until Sweden a few months ago abruptly abandoned its plans to recognize the independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara, a region occupied by Morocco. Interior Minister Anders Ygeman, who has been responsible for the negotiations, denies that this decision had any influence on Morocco’s newfound desire to welcome back its young citizens.
May 14: Two robbers dressed in black burqas targeted a phone shop in the Stockholm suburb of Nacka, forcing the staff to hand over cell phones worth about 500,000 kronor ($55,000). The police released surveillance film from the robbery, which was not much help in identifying the robbers, as they were completely covered by the burqas.
May 16: The Stockholm District Court convicted another “Swede” of genocide in Rwanda. The 61-year-old man, now a Swedish citizen, claimed he was innocent of the charges and that the evidence against him had been fabricated. The indictment concerned five different massacres, in which around 800,000 people were murdered. The man was sentenced to life in prison. In 2013, another Rwandan, Stanislas Mbanenande, who had claimed to be a refugee but was also was sentenced to life in prison for a similar crime, was able to become a Swedish citizen.
May 16: An Eritrean man was arrested, suspected of committing a rape in a restaurant in central Stockholm. The man had previously been suspected of assaulting a woman at an Eritrean party. Those charges, however, were dropped when it became clear that it was actually the woman who had assaulted the man, injuring them both.
May 16: Green Party representative Yasri Khan, now known for refusing to shake a female television reporter’s hand, turned out to have close connections to the Islamic terror group Pulo in Thailand. Khan’s father, Samsudine Khan, also a resident of Sweden, is vice chairman for the group, which has carried out bombings and shootings against civilians and other targets deemed “legitimate.” After 13 people were killed by a bomb in March 2013, Yasri Khan commented on the deed in the Bangkok Post. He warned that the violence would continue unless the government solved the “root problems” that have created the separatist movements.
May 16: Two Roma were remanded into custody for 60 cases of theft against the elderly. The men would call senior citizens on the phone, and introduce themselves as craftsmen sent to check something in the residence. Once inside, one of the men would distract the victim, while the other would steal money and valuables. Those hesitant to let the Roma in would be threatened with hefty “fines” of several thousand kronor. The crimes were committed in a number of different cities; the Malmö police put considerable resources into tracking down the men.
May 17: A 30-year-old Arab asylum seeker was convicted of battery after flogging his wife with a belt in front of their six-year-old son. The abuse took place at an asylum house on the island of Öland, and was stopped when the staff intervened. The man was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.
May 17: Osbecksgymnasiet high school in Laholm was forced to hire extra staff to protect female students from daily inappropriate sexual advances. In a letter to the school, the girls’ parents wrote that “there is catcalling, shouting and screaming in other languages, and photographs being stealthily taken.”
Hosar Mahmood (left), 22, was convicted in May of raping a hospitalized woman, and sentenced to two years and two months. He previously served a short prison sentence for another crime in 2013, when he broke into an apartment, severely beat its owner, and then raped his teenage daughter. Right: Osbecksgymnasiet high school in Laholm was forced to hire extra staff to protect female students from daily inappropriate sexual advances, mainly by immigrant students. |
May 18: The police released a report — “The current situation regarding sexual assault and proposals for action” (“Lägesbild över sexuella ofredanden samt förslag till åtgärder“), which noted that Sweden is at the top of the EU’s statistics on physical and sexual violence against women, sexual harassment and stalking. The report stated unequivocally that it is “asylum-seeker boys” and “foreign men” who commit the vast majority of the reported crimes. As far as the widespread sexual assaults at public pools are concerned, the police said that in four out of five cases, the perpetrators have been “unaccompanied refugee children”. However, in an appendix to the report, alternative theories blaming “the Nordic alcohol culture” and Sweden’s “non-traditional gender roles” are set forth.
May 18: The LLT public transport company in Luleå announced that it will be teaching classes for newly arrived migrants — on the art of riding a bus. The idea came about after some 20 Afghan “unaccompanied refugee children” ended up having a heated argument with a Somali bus driver. In other parts of Sweden, courses exist on how to take out the garbage, how to use a light switch, unlock the front door, and so on. The bus class will teach the new arrivals what bus passes and bus stops are, how they work, and other useful things.
May 18: Two brothers were sentenced respectively to three, and three-and-a-half, years in prison — as well as deportation — for people-smuggling. The brothers apparently transported five disabled people from Bulgaria to Sweden, forced them to beg on the street for up to twelve hours a day, and then took their money. During a period of five months, the brothers made at least 300,000 kronor ($33,000) from the beggars.
May 18: A study released by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet, BRÅ) showed that only one in five foreign nationals convicted of rape are sentenced to deportation. The reason given is that they are registered residents and thus thought to have a connection to Sweden. The study does not mention how the victims feel about that.
May 19: Another gang rape, this time of a minor girl, was revealed in Växjö. Four teenagers of non-Western descent were arrested for raping the girl sometime during the weekend May 7-8. No other details were given.
May 20: Four of the many Moroccan street children staying illegally in Sweden committed a particularly brutal robbery against an 87-year-old woman. The four broke into the woman’s house, held her in a stranglehold until she passed out, hitting her head hard as she fell. They then ripped rings from her fingers, severely bruising her in the process. The young men were caught and subsequently convicted, thanks to surveillance footage from a nearby subway station which tied them to the scene. One man was sentenced to five years in prison and deportation, another to juvenile detention for a year and four months. The other two claimed to be under 15, and therefore could not be tried.
May 21: A survey by the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) suggested that as many as 38,000 women in Sweden may have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). Yet health care services rarely help women with the complications associated with FGM. Hayat Bihi from Somalia told the Swedish public radio, Sveriges Radio:
“When I had my health examination, no one asked me if I had been subjected to genital mutilation. It reminds me somewhat of Somalia, where nobody asks or cares about women’s health. I would wish all girls and women were asked about this.”
May 23: Youssaf Khaliif, the Somali “unaccompanied refugee child” who stabbed to death a young social worker, Alexandra Mezher, on January 25, was indicted. Ms. Mezher was working alone at the asylum house for unaccompanied children where Khaliif lived at the time of the murder. According to the prosecution, he stabbed her three times with a knife — in the back, thigh and hand. The stab in the thigh severed an artery, which caused Ms. Mezher to bleed to death before the ambulance could arrive. Youssaf Khaliif still claims he is 15 years old, but according to age tests ordered by prosecutor Linda Wiking, he is at least 18, and will therefore stand trial as an adult.
May 23: A group of Arab men who are asylum seekers have, according to witnesses, systematically sexually assaulted women traveling on a late-night bus in Umeå. One witness claims that the police initially refused to file a report on the matter, but after a large number of people complained, the police are now working actively to restore order on the buses.
May 24: A 24-year-old Palestinian, Omar Ali Abdalsalam was sentenced to life in prison and deportation for strangling his girlfriend to death in a park in Oskarshamn, in December 2015. Abdalsalam, who had previous convictions for violence against women with whom he had relationships, admitted that he had been violent to his girlfriend, but denied any intent to kill. He was also sentenced to pay damages of 350,000 kronor ($39,000) to the woman’s family.
May 24: Police officer Hanif Azizi told the daily Metro that stone throwing against police has more or less become an everyday occurrence:
“This weekend I was out working with my colleagues. On three occasions, we were subjected to stone throwing. On Friday we got a call to go to central Rinkeby, where the emergency service was trying to put out a car on fire. When the police arrived, we had stones thrown at us at two separate times.”
In Landskrona, individual police officers and the police station have received so many serious threats that the police have applied for permission to have closed-circuit television installed at the police station.
May 25: The Swedish Labor Court sentenced an Arab, Samy Makram Buchra Tawadrous, to pay 50,000 kronor ($5,500) in damages to a 19-year-old woman, who was made to sit on his lap while negotiating her salary. The woman was reluctant, but her boss insisted. He then wanted hugs and kisses, and promised to make sure that she got a raise. After the incident, the woman was afraid to go back to work, and reported her boss to the Labor Court. The man admitted what had happened, but did not feel he had done anything wrong.
May 25: Abo Raad, imam of the Gävle mosque, which is known for its hate speech and close connections to terrorists, was invited to a seminar in the Swedish Parliament. The seminar was organized by the parliamentary intergroup network against discrimination and honor violence. Parliamentarian Jonas Lundgren defended Raad’s involvement: “We invited him because, unfortunately, he is a person with certain sway over Muslims in Sweden. Also, he is a very controversial person, to say the least.”
May 26: Khurshed Karimov, a 26-year-old Muslim immigrant from Tajikistan, was indicted for the murder of his boss. According to the indictment, Karimov admitted to stabbing his employer 60 times allegedly for being an “Islamophobe.” The murderer lived in a trailer on his employer’s property, and helped him with a wide range of chores. Karimov told the police that he was in the house on January 27, when he heard his boss utter the words “f**king Muslim” and “f**king idiot,” and saying that he was going to “f**k Muslims.” After the murder, Karimov scribbled messages on the walls — “Allahu Akbar,” “France,” and “Charlie,” the latter an apparent reference to the terror attack against the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015.
May 27: After a quick investigation, the government decided that newly arrived migrant children will be allowed to bypass the waiting lists for independent schools. This rule will be even more strictly imposed on schools with a large number of applicants, and means that Swedish children who have waited for a long time will be bypassed. Mattias Karlsson, group leader for the Sweden Democrats in the Parliament, raged against the idea:
“This says something of the state of the nation, when the responsible minister actually brags about being efficient when it comes to working out a law that discriminates against the country’s own citizens in relation to non-citizens, and when the so-called right-wing ‘opposition’ says they are happy with this. Everyone should resign!”
May 31: The Immigration Service warned that there might be some turmoil in asylum houses when the law changes on June 1. From that date, migrants who have had their asylum applications rejected will no longer be allowed free housing, nor receive any allowances. At present, this applies to 1,700 people.
May 31: The Swedish public television station Sveriges Television aired a story on the living conditions for women at asylum houses. Women only make up about a third of the residents in the country’s asylum houses; the women interviewed talked about widespread sexual abuse. One woman said: “I am afraid, and when I wake up in the morning, my heart beats so fast. I go outside, but it feels as if everyone is watching me. Eyes staring at me up and down.”
May 31: A Swedish father was told that he and his two children are being thrown out of the house they are renting from the municipality — to make room for an immigrant family. The father, Uffe Rustan, told the local paper, Mitti: “It feels as if I am worth less, even though I pay taxes and my children go to school here. If only it had been a day care center moving in or something, but you cannot put one family on the street for the benefit of another family.”
Ingrid Carlqvist is a journalist and author based in Sweden, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow of Gatestone Institute.