June 1: The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå), released a report which showed that 11,007 people have been sentenced to deportation after being convicted of crimes. However, the report makes no mention of how many of these individuals have actually been deported. The number of convictions that include deportation has decreased, despite an increasing crime rate among foreigners in Sweden. In the 1970s, about 500 a year were sentenced to deportation; in 2004, the number had risen to 1,074, but in 2014 only 644 received this verdict.
Not only are fewer people sentenced to deportation -- but more and more, those who are to be deported refuse to leave the country. In October of last year, daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported that 30,000 people whose asylum application had been rejected and were scheduled for deportation, had gone missing. The police say they lack the resources to track down these illegals. Patrik Engström, head of the border police at the Department of National Operations (NOA), told the paper: "We put these people on the wanted list, but we do not engage in an active search for them. We wait for tips and things like that."
June 1: On the evening of May 31, a man was pushed in front of a speeding subway train in Stockholm. The victim was a 23-year-old Swedish student at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. He received skull fractures and lacerations, lost half his foot, broke his ribs and collarbone and punctured one of his lungs. Whether he will ever fully recover remains unclear. The day after, a 34-year-old Algerian-Swedish citizen was apprehended for the crime. The attacker, who was already suspected of another violent subway crime, was identified and caught with the aid of the general public, who recognized him from photographs published. He is now being held in custody, pending trial.
June 2: A Swedish Jewish family told the Jerusalem Post they have fled Sweden and taken up residency in Mallorca. Dan, whose parents came to Sweden when thousands of Danish Jews were rescued during World War II, said:
"All my life I'd been grateful to be part of a civilized society. And, until about 2005, I felt blessed to live in a true social democracy, where people willingly paid high taxes for a fine welfare system and liberal values.
"Sure, the sunshine and lifestyle played some part in our decision [to move], but the real reason was Sweden's changing demographics and politics. The radical, left-wing establishment became totally obsessed with multiculturalism and political correctness, which we did not need reminding had been part of Swedish ethos for centuries."
His wife Karla added: "If you disagree with the establishment, you are immediately called a racist or fascist, which we definitely are not. At times I felt that this was what it must have been like to live in the old Soviet Union."
June 2: Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg announced that from now on, it would employ security guards around the clock at Sahlgrenska's three hospitals. The head of security, Peter Alverman, told Sveriges television:
"There are constant threats against our staff. But more than anything, we are doing this because of increasing gang crime in Gothenburg; it finds its way into our hospitals and causes concern among staff as well as among other patients."
The guards will cost nine million kronor (over $1 million) a year -- money that could of course have been invested in health care.
June 3: Member of Parliament Daniel Sestrajcic was indicted for disobeying a police officer. Sestrajcic is a member of the Left Party, formerly known as the Communists. The crime was committed in connection with a tent camp of protesting Palestinians being torn down in Malmö, in October 2015. Sestrajcic, who was among the protesters, was initially accused of trying to kick a police officer in the head, but due to lack of evidence, those charges were dropped. However, as he refused to obey police orders and leave the scene, the indictment for disobeying police orders still stands. Mr. Sestrajcic denies the charges.
June 5: Three men, sentenced by Falun District Court to four years in prison for aggravated rape in the town of Ludvika, were acquitted by the Svea Court of Appeals. The prosecutor had appealed the original verdict in the hope that the men would get a longer prison sentence, but the Court of Appeals said that which of the men had done what could not be proven. The three were therefore acquitted and the deportation order revoked.
June 6: On Sweden's National Day, the Left Party decided to go out and congratulate -- not the Swedish people -- but the Muslims in Sweden who were starting the fasting month of Ramadan. Discussions ran hot on the party's Facebook page. One person wrote: "I hope you do not end up in the same situation as the Green Party. I fled from Islamists in Iran, and you are wishing them a happy Ramadan? My condolences."
June 6: The staff at an asylum house in Ludvika was forced to call the police after a group of Muslims seeking asylum had become dissatisfied with the meals served at the facility. They complained that the food was not "Ramadan compliant," and the way they expressed their complaints apparently frightened the staff. The police report is unclear about exactly what transpired after that.
June 7: It was reported that Isa Dare, a 4-year-old boy who had been brought into Islamic State territory by his parents, had now been smuggled into Sweden. The reason was apparently to gain access to the free health care the Swedish government decided to offer all illegal aliens in 2012 -- at the Swedish taxpayers' expense. The boy's 24-year-old mother, Grace "Khadija" Dare, was born in London. She was married to a Swedish citizen Abdul Ghameed Abbas, also known as "Abu Bakr", who was killed in combat for ISIS in an air raid in November 2014.
In February, the boy became well-known when he was featured in an ISIS video, where he was shown activating a detonator and blowing up a car with four prisoners inside. Posing by the burnt-out car, the 4-year-old yelled: "Allahu Akbar!"
June 7: Ardeshir Bibakabadi fled Iran for Sweden because his sexual orientation was not accepted in his home country. Last year, he held lectures at ten schools in Gothenburg, and in an interview with the daily newspaper, Göteborgs-Posten, he explained how hatred against homosexuals flourishes in Swedish schools with Muslim students.
"It was always the same pattern, I felt as if my mere presence were provoking them. When I lectured in big auditoriums, the tensions became abundantly clear. 'Damn, you are disgusting,' one student at the Porthälla school yelled at me. Then he charged at me."
June 8: Three Somali men in their 20s, who locked a 14-year-old girl in a room and took turns raping her, received very lenient sentences -- and all three avoided deportation. Two of the men got two and a half years in prison. The third, who was also convicted of drug-related crimes and drunk driving, got three years. After serving their time, they will all be allowed to stay in Sweden, even though they are not Swedish citizens.
June 9: A 19-year-old illegal alien from Somalia, who bit a police officer in the arm while being arrested, was acquitted by the Umeå District Court. The court believed his version of events -- that he had acted in a state of panic due to traumatic memories from his home country, and "bad experiences with the police in other countries."
June 9: For years, the Swedish media has maintained that all who claim to be unaccompanied refugee children are indeed children -- no matter how wrinkled and grizzled they are. The notion that many of them lie about their age, in order to get fast-tracked to asylum, has been dismissed as a racist myth. However, an investigative report by the public-service Sveriges Radio, showed that many are in fact adults, resulting in grown men being put in the same facilities as teenagers and children.
Irene Sandqvist, Unit Manager at the Social Services Department in Helsingborg, told the reporter that, in her estimation, at least 25% of the "refugee children" are adults:
"We have even had someone with gray hair, which makes it pretty obvious, I would say. Some are even older than the staff, and this might well put the younger children at risk."
June 9: Three young men, around 18, were indicted for a violent mugging attack against a Swedish man of about 25, outdoors in the town of Norrköping. One of the young men, Abdimalik Hassan Shido from Somalia, was also indicted for raping the victim at knifepoint in connection with the mugging. The prosecutor wrote:
"In direct connection to the physical assault described, Shido forced NN [the victim] to endure and perform anal and oral intercourse. The coercion consisted of Shido uttering death threats, pointing a knife at NN, and causing him pain by forcing him to perform the sexual acts despite the injuries NN had sustained during the beating."
The prosecutor demanded that Shido be tried for aggravated rape.
June 10: Back in January, a female employee at an asylum house for minors in Ystad told an Eritrean "unaccompanied refugee child" that he could not play any more video games. The man, who claims to be 17, then put the woman in a stranglehold until another employee intervened.
Despite the seriousness of the crime, the Eritrean received a mild sentence -- 35 hours of community service and an order to pay 9,720 kronor (about $1,000) in damages to the woman.
June 10: Abu Muadh, the controversial imam of the Halmstad mosque, gave an interview to the local daily newspaper, Hallandsposten. When asked why he has said that Muslims cannot be friends with non-Muslims, Muadh replied:
"In Islam, there is a difference between friend and comrade. You can see a comrade at the gym, or you can work with them and so on. But you cannot do things that are not allowed in our religion. There are tons of things you can do, like have a barbecue together, but you cannot share religious values. You cannot celebrate Christmas or Ramadan with someone who does not believe. That is not allowed."
June 11: Danial Rahimi, an Afghan who claims to be a 17-year-old "unaccompanied refugee child", was arrested on suspicion of child rape in the small village of Bodafors. After a month on remand, he was indicted. According to the prosecution, Rahimi pressed his penis into a young girl's anus several times, touched her genitals and buttocks, squeezed her breasts and bit them. He forced the girl to the ground and held her down while he raped her, hit her in the face hard, and tried to suffocate her by holding his hand over her nose and mouth. Rahimi denies the charges, but the prosecutor has a strong case, including DNA evidence.
June 12: Riot-like unrest started in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods in Kristianstad and Uppsala. In Kristianstad, fires were started and stones thrown at emergency service vehicles. In Uppsala, the riots went on for several days, and a bus with people aboard was attacked with rocks and other objects that were thrown.
June 13: Public-service Sveriges Television reported that Tobias Lindfors, the owner of the Pite Havsbad hotel and conference center, has been making many millions from his lucrative deal with the Swedish Migration Agency. Pite Havsbad, known as one of the largest swimming and spa facilities in Europe, is sometimes referred to as "the Swedish Riviera". In May, the facility made news when a Congolese man seeking asylum started a minor fire in his room. During the winter, only 25% of the rooms were occupied, but according to Sveriges Television's report, Mr. Lindfors still gets paid for housing 1,300 asylum seekers -- regardless of how many are actually staying at the facility. The Swedish Migration Agency has rented Pite Havsbad for four years (excluding two months in midsummer). According to reports, the Agency paid its owner 240 million kronor (roughly $28 million) for the rental.
June 13: When a riot broke out at an asylum house for "unaccompanied refugee children" in Nässjö, two kitchens, worth hundreds of thousands of kronor, were smashed to pieces. The staff did not dare to intervene against the rioters. Instead, they backed away and called the police. Stoves, a refrigerator and freezer, television sets, dishwashers, kitchen furniture and dishes were demolished. The vandals also flung chairs around, damaging windows and doors. According to the police, the riot started because of "dissatisfaction with the food served."
June 13: A 46-year-old Bosnian ISIS jihadi, considered extremely dangerous, was taken into custody by the Malmö police. However, as he immediately applied for asylum, the Swedish Migration Agency stepped in, took over the case -- and prevented him from being deported. Inspector Leif Fransson of the Border Police was quite critical. He told the local daily newspaper, HD/Sydsvenskan:
"As soon as these people throw out their trump card and say 'Asylum', the gates of heaven open. Sweden has gotten a reputation as a safe haven for terrorists."
Nevertheless, after a lightning-fast determination process, it was reported four days later that the ISIS jihadi was denied asylum and would be flown out of Sweden as soon as possible.
June 14: The first indictment since the new law on traveling abroad for the purpose of committing terrorist acts came into effect, was a major setback. Attunda Municipal Court acquitted a 25-year-old man, who in the spring of 2015 bought a one-way ticket to Turkey, but was denied entry and sent back to Stockholm. In his suitcase, police found body armor, knee pads and elbow pads. According to the prosecution, the 25-year-old's destination was Syria, where he planned to join the Al-Nusra Front, fighting against the Assad regime.
Mark Klamberg, an assistant professor of international law, spoke with the daily, Svenska Dagbladet, right after the acquittal: "If the verdict stands, my conclusion is that it will be very hard to win these types of cases."
June 14: More and more Swedish police officers are leaving the police force. A feeling of physical insecurity, low wages and discontent with National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson are some of the explanations given. The Police Union recently started the blog Polisliv ("Police Life"), where police officers can tell their stories anonymously -- giving the Swedish people an opportunity to get a glimpse of what it is like to work as a police officer in Sweden.
June 14: A report from the Swedish National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen), revealed that the Swedish Migration Agency spent four billion kronor (about $470 million) on accommodation alone for the asylum-seeking migrants who came to Sweden in 2015. The National Audit Office remarked that the costs could have been lowered significantly, if the Migration Agency had worked more effectively and systematically.
June 14: An exceptionally lenient verdict against a rapist from Yemen caused emotions to run high in Mariestad. Maher Al Qalisi attacked a 13-year-old girl, knocked her off a bicycle, knifed her in the face and raped her in a park -- yet, he only got 18-months' probation and will not be deported. Al Qalisi claims he is 17 years old, even though his Yemenite passport says he is 20. If he had been tried as an adult, he would certainly have gotten a more severe punishment. Prosecutor Jonas Lövström was disappointed with the verdict: "It is my firm belief that he is older than 21."
June 15: The number of threats reported at Swedish Migration Agency offices has more than doubled over the last year -- from 94 to 216. Mostly, the threats are directed at agency employees, or concern asylum seekers who act generally threatening.
June 15: According to Swedish law, religious elements are not allowed in Swedish public schools. However, the Muslim students at the Bikupan School in Lessebo have their own prayer room. Teacher Veronica Wilhelmsen explained to public-service Sveriges Radio how this came to be: "They need to feel they can practice their religion here in Sweden and at the school, otherwise they might not come to school at all."
June 15: The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (Myndigheten för ungdoms- och civilsamhällesfrågor) made public which organizations had received the government grants of 212 million kronor (about $25 million) handed out in 2016. The grants are supposed to go to children's and youth organizations, but aside from municipalities getting money for summer holiday activities, most of the grants go to organizations claiming to work with anti-racism, LGBT-issues and against "islamophobia".
It turned out that a very controversial group, United Muslims of Sweden (Sveriges förenade muslimer, SFM), was granted over half a million kronor ($55,000). SFM has time and again been associated with extremism and hate speech against homosexuals, but argues that the money is to be used to fight racism and intolerance. Terrorism expert and scholar Magnus Ranstorp told the daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter:
"I see plenty of question marks here. We are talking about a group that has invited hate preachers and whose Salafist orientation is in many ways the very opposite of tolerance."
June 17: Malmö is one of Sweden's most attractive places to live for migrants. There is an acute housing shortage, but the municipality has nonetheless decided to prioritize the so-called "newly arrived Swedes", and has therefore decided to purchase 56 apartments to accommodate the new arrivals. The Sweden Democrats party raged against the decision, and opined that it would be better to send most of the migrants home, since most of them live isolated from the rest of society anyway.
June 20: An Afghan family in Landskrona refused to accept that their daughter had a boyfriend. So they made her marry a relative in their home country -- and violently abducted the boyfriend. Three people have now been indicted for forced marriage, battery, robbery and kidnapping. "The motive behind all these crimes," Prosecutor Ulrika Ekvall explained, "was to restore the family honor."
June 20: The Swedish EU news website Europaportalen reported that in no other EU country has the number of asylum applications decreased so much as in Sweden. In the last quarter of 2015, close to 88,000 asylum applications were filed, but in the first quarter of 2016, only 8,000 – a 90% drop. The reduction is mainly due to Sweden implementing border controls, as well as identification checks on the Danish side. Germany, which still has no border controls with its neighboring EU countries, on the other hand, saw an increase of asylum applications during the first quarter of 2016, compared to the last quarter of 2015.
June 21: A 30-year-old woman was arrested, suspected of murdering a five-month-old baby at an asylum house in Sunne. The woman is not the baby's mother, but is said to have "ties to the child." A few days later, a 20-year-old Somali man was also arrested in the case, and the two have since been held in custody.
June 21: The Green Party laid out a new plan of action to ensure that the party is never again infiltrated by Islamists. The plan presents five focal points. The party had enlisted the help of a Swedish Defense University scholar, Lars Nicander, who claimed that the party had been infiltrated by Islamists long before anyone knew what was going on. The Greens will also initiate a broad discussion about values, including the differences between Swedish leftist liberal equality values and Islam's view of women.
June 21: Four people were indicted for attacking two police officers in the Hässleholmen neighborhood of Borås. Some 50 people surrounded the officers, while a man carrying a knife crept up beside them and stabbed one of them. It all started as a simple traffic stop for a moped, but things quickly got out of hand when more and more people showed up. A man kicked one of the officers in the chest, and stabbed another one. The female police officer who was stabbed said: "I thought he was aiming to kill me, that is what he wants."
June 22: A 38-year-old man was charged in absentia, for the murder of a 16-year-old girl who came to Sweden as an "unaccompanied refugee child" in the fall of 2015. In March, she was reported missing, and in May her body was found in a wooded area in southern Stockholm. According to the daily, Aftonbladet, the man, who was 22 years her senior, was married to the girl.
June 22: Triple-murderer Martin Saliba, who was sentenced in absentia to life in prison in January, will not be extradited to Sweden from his old home country, Lebanon. One early March morning last year, two joggers in Uddevalla found two dead men lying on the ground and a dead woman in a car -- all shot several times at point-blank range.
Martin Saliba, 22, and his brother Mark, 23, were charged with the murders. Mark was sentenced to life in prison, but the Municipal Court did not think there was sufficient evidence to convict Martin, and so acquitted him. He was therefore at liberty when the case went to the Court of Appeals. On the last day of trial, he failed to show up, and was subsequently placed on the international wanted list after the verdict of life in prison was announced. Now, it seems, he has relocated to Lebanon. As Lebanon does not extradite its citizens, he can live there as a free man.
June 23: Four men and a woman, all Syrians, were indicted at the Sundsvall Municipal Court for kidnapping, severely beating and sexually abusing a man. The man was attacked in a parking lot and for twelve hours driven around in a car. The motive behind the crimes is unclear, but according to local papers, they may be related to business deals gone wrong between the victim and his assailants. The prosecutor has asked for deportation of all the suspects, if convicted.
June 26: A 20-year-old woman was found dead at an asylum house near Jönköping. A 24-year-old man has been arrested, on suspicion of murder. The man confessed to his involvement in the crime; according to his lawyer, the motive was anger over infidelity.
June 26: The Östersund police department admitted that the many sexual attacks against women in the town in February and March of this year, were mostly committed by "asylum seeking youths." When the rapists were most active, the police put out a warning to women not to go outside alone evenings and nights. The local chief of police, Stephen Jerand, told the daily, Östersunds-Posten: "When we take in people who are fleeing, it is important to inform them early on about what the rules are in Sweden, and that said rules also apply to women."
June 26: A 25-year-old Afghan was arrested at an asylum house in Mariannelund for the murder of his 22-year-old wife According to reports, after the murder the man ran out onto the front lawn, shouting that he had strangled his wife to death. The couple had a 3-year-old child.
June 27: A Muslim man attacked the St. Pauli church in Malmö. He broke several windows, and when the police arrived, he was at the top of the church, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" He then tried to attack police officers with a wooden cudgel. The man is now suspected of inflicting gross damage, also may be charged for hate crimes.
June 27: Two 24-year-old men of foreign descent were convicted of a series of aggravated robberies against students in Malmö. Several of the victims were held at knifepoint for hours while the robbers emptied their homes and bank accounts. Mahad Munyo Mohamed, who was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, is a Somali citizen, and Hassan Murtadha Mohammed Hassan, who was sentenced to five years in prison, is a Swedish citizen.
June 28: The much-criticized National Police Commissioner, Dan Eliasson, launched a new campaign to put a stop to the gropings and rapes at music festivals: Bracelets with the words "Do not grope" printed on them. The bracelets will be distributed at festivals, and according to Eliasson, "turn a spotlight on this issue and encourage those affected to report the crime." Considering that in May, the police's own Department of National Operations (NOA) published a report that clearly states that 80% of the perpetrators are of foreign descent, many found the notion of bracelets with text in Swedish printed on them somewhat puzzling.
June 28: An Eritrean, who raped a Swedish woman in a public restroom in Sundsvall, gets to stay in Sweden after being sentenced to one year and four months in prison. The Swedish Migration Agency apparently did not feel he could be sent back to his home country. The mild sentence was given because he claimed to be only 19 years old.
While Gatestone Institute stands by the articles written for it to date by Ingrid Carlqvist, Gatestone is no longer affiliated with her in any way.
