Finland 2021
16/01/2021: Despite the tightening of Finnish legislation in counterterrorism matters to bring it into line with the regulations of other Nordic countries, Finland credibility was discussed when it was reported that a criminal report was filed against a man who arrived in Finland from Syria because the man was suspected of having received training within the ranks of IS. A person resembling the man had appeared in a video by the IS terrorist organization, in which individuals in plain clothes receive training with assault rifles in hand and perform combat exercises. Yet, the Central Criminal Police Office closed the investigation because, according to Finnish Law, if training for a specific terrorist crime is a crime indeed, simply receiving armed training from a terrorist organization however is not enough to meet the criteria for the crime. (Source)
New apropriate measures to fix those legislative flaws are reportedly discussed among authorities and underway. As such Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Helsinki, Kimmo Nuotio suggests that if necessary, Finnish terrorism legislation should be amended so that participating in armed training for the terrorist organization IS becomes punishable in itself, even if the court cannot prove that the person who received the training was preparing for a specific terrorist attack. (Source)
Head of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service, Antti Pelttari, considers the stricter measures proposed by the Ministry of Justice making participation in terrorist activities and public incitement to commit terrorist crimes more punishable than currently are insufficient. According to Supo, the entire chapter on terrorism in the Criminal Code should be reshaped accordingly. On the other hand, Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson disagrees with the Supreme Court on the matter and rather deems that the terrorism legislation will be brought up to date. (Source)
03/02/2021: An alarming article stated that in Finland, none of the foreign fighters who returned from Syria have been sentenced or charged with terrorism. In three other terrorism cases that have gone to court, the charges have been dropped. This may partially be explained by the fact that out of the 80 Finns who joined IS, only a few came back from the terrorist organization's areas. Despite the current tightening of Finnish legislation in terrorism matters, IS-related cases investigated by the police involving a man who had received armed training in IS ranks and another who operated as an IS imam, did not lead to a terrorism charge. Finland is reluctant to criminalize membership in a terrorist organization alone. The Ministry of Justice has justified this by, among other things, the fact that terrorist organizations do not keep membership registers. (Source)
23/03/2023: Supo has published the 2020 Yearbook summarizing the trends of terrorism threat recorded throughout 2020 notably the returnees that were repatriated from Syria. According to Supo, most returnees from the conflict zones are likely to continue operating in Islamist networks, and pose a threat to national security in the short and long term. Moreover, Finland is depicted as a hostile country in IS propaganda online and this portrayal may be passed on to new generations of radicalized Muslims in Finland especially the returnees' children. As for the Covid pandemic, the latter has had no impact on the national threat level. (Source)
29/04/2021: Finnish authorities have drafted the National Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment 2021. The main impediments and threats related to terrorism financing after the Covid pandemic highlighted throughout this report are the shortcomings in the exchange of information, especially between those obliged to report, which affects the possibilities of detecting suspicious transactions; the dificulties to identify the phenomenon of terrorism financing, which significantly affects the operators' ability to detect suspicious activity; and the potential exploitation of existing companies as well as the hijacking of inactive companies by criminals. (Source)
Simultaneously, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior have produced the National Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment Plan to give an impetus to Finland efforts to comply with European regulations in terms of financial criminality and terrorist threats. The strategic priorities of the action plan are: to raise public awareness about money laundering and terrorism financing, develop information exchange, national legislation and statistics, implement measures to reduce the most significant individual risks identified in the risk assessment, develop the digitalization of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision and risk management. The Risk Assessment and the Action Plan form a whole that reflects Finland's national understanding of the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing and the means to manage them for the period between 2021 and 2023. (Source)
12/05/2021: The Financial Intelligence Unit of the Finnish National Criminal Police published a report investigating on the convictions that have been issued in Europe for terrorism financing in 2015–2020. It turns out that contrary to the European trend where more and more convictions are being handed down in EU countries every year for terrorism financing, no one has been convicted of this in Finland so far. This report highlights once again the irrelevancy of Finnish current legislation and operational weakness against broader terrorist activities compared to European standards. (Source)
19/05/2021: Supo reported that it will not reconsider downwards the Terrorist Threat Assessment made back in 2020 and emphasized again that returnees from Syria who previously pledged allegiance to IS remain a threat as well. (Source)
20/05/2021: The Ministry of Justice announced that the Finnish Government submitted its pending proposal to the Parliament to tighten terrorism laws in the tense context of repatriation of Finnish citizens from Syria who have not been convicted of terrorism so far. The new laws project make it punishable to perform a “task essential to the terrorist criminal activity” of a terrorist group. After the law comes into force, it would therefore be punishable in Finland to be actively involved in terrorist activities. Fighters, trainers, and preachers who incite violence will therefore face criminal liability. The government's proposal also addresses propaganda in the media, social media and public events. However, laws are not retroactive thus implying that Finnish returnees from IS-controlled territory will remain in a grey area leaving their actual status moot. (Source)
14/07/2021: Finland repatriated from the al-Hol camp in Syria a woman and her two children who were handed over to the Finnish authorities by the Kurdish authorities in Qamishli. While the mother will be tried for her possible crimes, follow-up measures will be taken for the children who spent nearly two and a half years in the camp. According to the special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jussi Tanner, Finland's objective is to repatriate all Finns who attempted the Caliphate adventure under the Islamic State. Around two thirds of them have already been repatriated, totaling roughly to thirty individuals, and there are only ten children and a few women remaining in Syria. (Source)
11/09/2021: On the twentieth anniversary of 911 attacks, an IS flag was hung above a bridge at the entrance to the Kivikko suburb outside Helsinki, which concentrates several communities of Iraqi, Syrian, Iranian, Turkish and Somali migrants. (Source)
15/10/2021: The Nordic Counter Terrorism Network conducted a field research in Kivikko to investigate about the potential influence of radical Islam following the display of IS flag over a bridge during the 20th anniversary of the 911 attacks. Local people from different communities and backgrounds were interrogated and surveyed about their personal perceptions of Islam. Results of the investigation carried out by NCTN were compiled in a report, Passive Support: Islamist Groups and Ideologies, transmitted in December 2021 to the Finnish Parliament. Specific caution was required about the youngest generations of Muslims who were reported by surveyed people in Kivikko as particularly receptive to radical interpretations of Islam.
22/12/2021: President of the Republic, Sauli Niinistö, confirmed the amendments to the Law concerning terrorist crimes. In the context of the strengthening of Finnish legislation in counterterrorism matters, the Finnish Parliament has aproved a new Law amending the Criminal Code to consider as a punishable crime the act of public incitement to commit terrorist offences more precisely, "anyone who, using mass media or publicly in a crowd or in a writing or other presentation made generally known, urges or entices to enlist in a terrorist group or to commit an offence [...] shall be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of two years". The criminal liability for participating in the activities of a terrorist group will be expanded in the future to include a person performing a task that is essential to the terrorist criminal activities of a terrorist group. Essential tasks may include, for example, participating in the armed activities of a terrorist group, ensuring the group's operational readiness, and providing religious or ideological education that encourages or otherwise promotes the commission of terrorist crimes. Public incitement to commit terrorist offences will henceforth be punishable as well. Such public incitement can be made using mass media or social media, or in a crowd or at a public event. In addition, financing a terrorist offence and travelling for the purpose of committing a terrorist offence will be more widely punishable than currently. According to the Ministry of Justice, there will also be changes to the provisions on covert coercion and covert means of obtaining information and certain other provisions related to terrorist offences. The laws will enter into force on 1 January 2022. (Source)