Sweden; corruption and Islamophobia

By: Mohsen Pakaein

TEHRAN, (MNA) – One of the reasons for Islamophobic activities in Sweden, which has caused hatred of the Muslim world, is the dissatisfaction of Muslims with the increasing corruption in this country. 

The increase in sexual harassment, abuse of children, administrative corruption, bribery, organized crime, support for terrorism and drug trafficking are among the issues of Muslim dissatisfaction with the Swedish government. 

The ruling party of this country, which came to power in 2022 and calls itself a Democrat, believes that practising Islam is not compatible with democracy! The right-wingers, who are the main form of the Democrat party, have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the performance of religious duties by Muslims, including offering prayers and choosing the hijab. 

Sweden's ruling party, like the neo-Nazis, considers insulting the sacred things of Muslims, including the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and the Holy Quran, as a way to exercise democracy, and issues permission for these actions in the name of freedom of speech. This thinking considers Islam's opposition to corruption as a form of interference in governance and believes that Muslims intend to take the country under their control.

Although corruption in Sweden is defined by the National Crime Prevention Council (Brå) as "abuse of power", in 2016, about 1,510,000 crimes were reported to legal authorities in Sweden, which shows the level of corruption in this country. In order to understand this situation more, the extensive cases of corruption in Sweden are discussed below.

1. According to the reports of most European media, including the Independent, Sweden and Denmark are the countries with the highest rate of sexual harassment in the European Union. In these countries, 80 to 95 percent of people say that they have been sexually harassed. These numbers are the highest in this continent, and for this reason, the Gatestone Institute calls Sweden the "rape capital of the West". According to these reports, Swedish women are much more exposed to sexual crimes than men; Although men are not safe from sexual injuries and a significant part of these crimes occur in public places, workplaces and schools. Fredrik Bundestam, director of the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research, says: "This is the first time we have conducted a study of the entire academic sector, and it is actually the largest survey in the world on sexual harassment in the higher education sector. In this survey, a total of 38% said that they had experienced unwanted sexual activity since the beginning of their studies or work at university or college.

2. Child abuse and child harassment, which are clear violation of human rights, is widespread in Sweden. Among the abused children, 35% were girls and 65% were boys. Among them, a significant part of the threats is directed at the population of 500,000 Swedish Muslims, who are insulted and intimidated by right-wing and racist movements. 

3. In relation to human trafficking, according to Sputnik's report, the number of corruption centers in Norway and Sweden has increased following the arrival of Ukrainian asylum seekers in this country, and the Swedish police identified a number of "corruption centers" as employers of women and girls at the beginning of this year. These people were illegally brought to Sweden by human traffickers or as asylum seekers. In justifying their actions, these trafficking gangs told the police that they felt sympathy for these people and wanted to help them to get out of the difficult situation. According to numerous reports, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, European networks of human trafficking and sexual exploitation have targeted Ukrainian refugee women and trapped them in modern slavery.

4. Regarding the lack of social security, bicycle theft is one of the most common crimes in a country of ten million people, Sweden, and over the past ten years, more than 600,000 bicycles have been stolen from people. Anti-theft devices for bicycles and cars are warned to people. Sweden is also among the top five countries in the world in terms of car theft, and the rate of Swedes is 106 thefts per 100,000 people, which means that with a population of ten million, more than ten thousand cars are stolen in this country every year. In terms of theft from homes and places, Sweden has a miserable situation and according to the available statistics, there are 1915 cases of theft per 100,000 people.

5. Ever since the anti-corruption institutions in America and Sweden started investigating the offer of a bribe by a Swedish-American company to the son of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in exchange for domination of the Turkish market, the existence of bribery in the Swedish administrative system has been highlighted. It was also reported that one of the employees at the Swedish Embassy in Jordan received money from the applicants in exchange for shortening the interview time. Erik Ollenhag, Sweden's ambassador to Jordan, strongly reacted to this issue and stated that he will react seriously against corruption and disorder. But during the wedding ceremony of Princess Victoria with her sports coach in a church in the center of Stockholm, it was revealed that a millionaire businessman paid for the couple's honeymoon and provided them with a private jet and a luxurious cruise ship.

This is an example of bribery to the royal family and "Peter Wolverdorski", the political editor of the newspaper "Dagens Nyheter", said: "All Swedish people want that the officials do not look for their personal interests and they want to be sure that the officials only have the interests of the people in mind, not in their own business interests. I think whoever owns such a company would be very willing to have the support of the royal family to continue doing business abroad. So there is a risk that one day the royal family will eventually want to repay his hospitality." But the biggest corruption case in Sweden's history was when Saab, the manufacturer of Gripen jets, was accused of paying bribes to the South African government to conclude a profitable contract. The research was abandoned, an action that was criticized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

6. Sweden has been a safe haven for terrorist elements and groups in recent decades. This country's support measures for terrorist elements and groups such as the MKO and the Anzal movement include a wide range of measures such as sheltering and financing them. These elements from inside Sweden were planning to carry out terrorist acts against the people of Iran, and among these terrorists was "Habib Al-Assiod" known as "Chaab", the leader of the terrorist group "Harakah al-Nidal", who was hanged. This terrorist was based in Sweden for many years and benefited from the facilities of the government of this country and participated in the martyrdom and injury of 274 innocent Iranian citizens. Sweden's lack of will and unwillingness to include international standards in domestic laws is the most important reason for not prosecuting criminals and terrorists in Sweden.

7. According to Swedish media reports, gun violence and resulting murders stemming from actions related to the drug trade and personal vendettas have reached an alarming growth rate in recent months. In a report referring to the armed murder in early March this year in Sweden, the Wall Street Journal wrote that this shooting opened a new chapter of brutality in the wave of gang violence in Sweden and made Sweden the hot spot for gun murder in Europe. Swedish National Crime Prevention Council announced that shootings leading to murder in Sweden are almost 5.2 times the European average. In 2021 and 2022, 45 and 62 people died due to gun violence.

Muslims, as followers of Islamic civilization, have never insulted the holy things of other nations; the books of divine religions, such as the Bible, the Torah, the Avesta, and the prophets and messengers, have been respected by Muslims. For this reason, the Islamic world does not expect countries that claim civilization and adhere to human rights, it disrespects and insults the sanctities of Muslims. The Muslims of the world consider the existence of widespread corruption in Sweden to be the main cause of insulting their beliefs, and naturally, the continuation of this situation will increase the hatred of the Islamic world for Sweden's government.