Sweden 2025

09/01/2025: The Swedish Prosecution Authority announced that a 23-year-old man from Afghanistan living in Vimmerby, Småland is charged with several terrorist crimes committed between October 2022 and June 2024 and linked to IS. He reportedly have collected tens of thousands of kronor in cryptocurrencies intended for the terrorist group Islamic State and was arrested in June 2024 at Arlanda airport as he was about to embark on a flight to Somalia where a fraction of the Al-Shabaab group splitted to pledge allegiance to IS which has now a local wing since then. The indictment states that he has made two previous trips to Somalia and applied for visas to Ethiopia for a large number of people. He tried to justify his trips to Africa by a personal interest in "camel markets". (Source)

20/01/2025: The Public Prosecutor's Office announced the request of the arrest of a Swedish citizen affiliated to IS on suspicions of war crimes committed between December 24, 2014 and February 3, 2015. His name is Osama Krayem, he was born in Malmo, Sweden in 1992 to Palestinian parents. Ironically, at 11-year-old, he participated in the 2005 film "Utan gränser – en film om idrott och integration", a documentary on how to succeed with integration of migrants into Swedish society. It is implied that the suspect is involved in the murder of a Jordanian Air Force pilot who was shot down in Syria and captured by IS before getting burned alive in a metal cage by the Swedish man. The execution was filmed and spread in a clip with IS propaganda elements. The accused has been convicted in Belgium and France of terrorist crimes and will be requested to be handed over to participate in a possible trial at the Stockholm District Court. (Source)

22/01/2025: The Swedish Prison and Probation Service has reported that Camilla Olofsson, the IS adept who returned from Syria and was sentenced in January 2023 to six years and ten months in prison for human trafficking, is recruiting for terrorism in prison and still sympathizes with violent extremist movements and Salafist ideology. Olofsson denied those allegations and claimed that she had taken distance from IS ideology. (Source)

29/01/2025: Salwan Momika, the activist who burned a Quran in June 2023, was shot dead on the balcony of an apartment he was staying in while he was live-streaming on TikTok. He was charged by Swedish authorities with incitement against a group of people after the Quran burnings. As his residence permit delivered by Swedish authorities was about to expire, he attempted to apply for asylum in Norway in March 2024, but was deported to Sweden. He was being prosecuted for incitement against an ethnic group with his friend, Salwan Najem, and the verdict was expected to be handed down on the day following his murder. Five suspects were reportedly already arrested by Säpo and investigations are still ongoing. After he achieved notoriety in 2023, bounties on his head were offered to whoever eliminated him. The Iraqi city of al-Kufa promised a $2 million bounty with an additional Quran made of two kilograms of gold. Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, urged Muslims worldwide to eliminate him as well on his X account. (Source)

Interestingly, Momika was assassinated slightly after a tense debate he had on TikTok with an influencer, Loly Zaza, who openly praised the crimes committed by IS against the Yazidis with a specific emphasis on the rapes and the sexual slavery of Yazidi women. She currently lives in Charleroi, Belgium, and  has over 100k followers. Her worrisome apology of terrorism was massively reported by webusers to Belgian authorities which allegedly opened a case against her, however, this has yet to be confirmed. 

 

Back in April 2024, an April's fool joke spread far and wide the fake news claiming that he was successfully eliminated. Although erroneous, the news were met with enthusiasm and joy among radical Muslims on the Internet. His actual death in January 2025 triggered the same reactions. (Source)

The murder of Salwan Momika occured in a dire context for Sweden. The country is facing an unprecented wave of explosions in the suburbs, most of them in the southern Stockholm area, committed by agents related to criminal networks. 32 were registered in January 2025 against 10 in January 2024. (Source)

Deputy Regional Police Chief in Stockholm, Tobias Bergkvist, declared just before Momika's demise that police forces arrested 50 individuals in 25 different cases including perpetrators, bomb makers and people abroad. Apparently the new wave of violence stands out by the profile of the perpetrators who are much younger than usual criminals, some reportedly being only 15 year-old. Furthermore, the explosions were deemed to be strategic acts aimed at companies for the purpose of extortion which does not really fit in the common definition of terrorism which is more political than typically "gangster-type". (Source)

Regardless, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson explicitly referred to the explosions as "domestic terrorism" on January 29, 2025. (Source)

As the situation spirals out of the control of Swedish authorities due to the international nature of the threat posed by the 600 criminal gangs targeting Sweden from abroad, organized crime was on the agenda during a planned ministerial meeting in Ankara on January 21, 2025 when Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, among other things about strengthening cooperation between the countries. (Source)

It has already been determined that the most prominent of those criminal gangs, namely the "Foxtrot" network, was used as a proxy by the Islamic Republic of Iran to conduct operations against Israel and the Jewish community in Sweden. As such, Liberal party leader Johan Pehrson, declared on January 30, 2025 that his party wishes the EU to label Foxtrot as a terrorist organization. (Source)

31/01/2025: The five suspects arrested in the aftermath of Salwan Momika's murder on January 29, 2025 were released by Swedish authorities. The Swedish Prosecution Authority stated that there were no elements sufficiently relevant to exend their custody period. However, suspicions persist and the preliminary investigations are still ongoing. It was implied that one of the suspects is known to police services. (Source)

03/02/2025: Säpo made a statement confirming that a mosque located in Järfälla in Northern Stockholm and run by the Shia organization Imam Ali Islamic Center (IAC), is used as a platform by Iran's intelligence service "to conduct security-threatening activities against Sweden and individuals in the Iranian diaspora in Sweden". Iran's intelligence gathering is primarily aimed at opposition groups and individuals within the Iranian diaspora, but also at other States. To carry out attacks and conduct intelligence gathering, Iran uses, among other things, proxies. But the regime also uses cyber gathering and tries to gain access to information by approaching people of Iranian origin. Such information was already hinted by the Expressen, which reported the arrest of the Imam on January 31, 2025, and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed on his X account on February 1st, 2025. (Source)

However, it turns out that contrary to what was believed, the imam was still in the Migration Board's custody pending deportation and has not been immediately expelled from Sweden as some media claimed. Imam Mohsen Hakimollahi was dispatched from Iran to Sweden in 2011 and got his permanent residence in 2017. The IAC made a counter-statement denying all the allegations of Säpo and urged the Swedish government to intervene in favor of Imam Hakimollahi who is depicted as an "open and humble congregation leader who actively encourages dialogue, inclusion and respect for Swedish legislation". In retaliation, Tehran summoned the Ambassdor of Sweden. Hakimollahi was ultimately deported from Sweden on February 7, 2025. (Source)

Salwan Najem, the friend of Salwan Momika was convicted of incitement against an ethnic group after four Quran burnings in Stockholm and sentenced to a suspended sentence and a daily fine. In reaction to the verdict, Islamist activist Raad al-Duhan declared that the sentence is still too kind and "God willing, this person will be liquidated soon". He was convicted of  money-laundering in November 2021 and of violating the Act on Special Control of Certain Foreigners in July 2024. The Quran burnings case became a heated debate, even within the Nordic countries, as Islamist militants may now directly endanger individuals perceived as disrespectful towards Islam and carry out eliminations as the death of Salwan Momika once again proved it. (Source)

11/02/2025: Säpo declared that they have arrested "in calm circumstances" a person preparing to commit a terrorist crime related to islamism in the Stockholm area. The suspect was reportedly monitored for a "long time" according to Säpo and his case is not related to any other cases previously reported. The criminal charges are preparation for a terrorist crime, aggravated participation in a terrorist organization, preparation or attempted murder, and preparation for a serious crime against the Flammable and Explosive Goods Act. Säpo did not make any comment or precision regarding when or where the terrorist act was planned, nor which terrorist organization the person is believed to be affiliated with. (Source)

Lina Laina Ishaq was sentenced to twelve years in prison for crimes against humanity thus concluding a historic trial in Sweden. Ishaq traveled to Syria with her husband Jiro Mehho and their children in the spring of 2013 to join IS. Her husband died shortly after their arrival while fighting for IS. According to the charges, Ishaq kept six children and three women as slaves in her home in Raqqa, Syria, between 2014 and 2015. Those Yazidis were captured during an ISIS attack on Yazidis in Sinjar, Northern Iraq, in August 2014 and were, upon being sold to Ishaq, forced to convert to Islam and threatened and repeatedly beaten. Ishaq reportedly sold them to other IS supporters. Upon her return to Sweden in November 2020, Ishaq was previously sentenced in March 2021 and March 2022 for war crimes and a serious violation of international law for failing to prevent her son from becoming a child soldier. Never before has a Swede been prosecuted and convicted of crimes against humanity. (Source)

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