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Tag: Sweden government

  • Iran was behind thousands of text messages calling for revenge over Quran burnings, Sweden says

    Iran was behind thousands of text messages calling for revenge over Quran burnings, Sweden says

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    COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Swedish authorities accused Iran on Tuesday of being responsible for thousands of text messages sent to people in Sweden calling for revenge over the burnings of Islam’s holy book in 2023. Iran denied the accusation.

    According to officials in Stockholm, the cyberattack was carried out by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which hacked an SMS service and sent “some 15,000 text messages in Swedish” over the string of public burnings of the Quran that took place over several months in Sweden during the summer of 2023.

    Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said a preliminary investigation by Sweden’s SAPO domestic security agency showed “it was the Iranian state via the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, that carried out a data breach at a Swedish company that runs a major SMS service.”

    The Swedish company was not named.

    The Iranian Embassy in Sweden in a statement rejected the accusation as “baseless” and said it was intended to “poison” relations between Tehran and Stockholm, the official IRNA news agency reported. The embassy expects the Swedish government to prevent the spread of such statements, the report said.

    In August 2023, Swedish media reported that a large number of people in Sweden had received text messages in Swedish calling for revenge against people who were burning the Quran, Ljungqvist said, adding that the sender of the messages was “a group calling itself the Anzu team.”

    Swedish broadcaster SVT published a photo of a text message, saying that “those who desecrated the Quran must have their work covered in ashes” and calling Swedes “demons.”

    The protests were held under the freedom of speech act, which is protected under the Swedish constitution. The rallies were approved by police. However, the incidents left Sweden torn between its commitment to free speech and its respect for religious minorities.

    The clash of fundamental principles had complicated Sweden’s desire to join NATO, an expansion that gained urgency after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but needed the approval of all alliance members.

    Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had temporarily blocked Sweden’s accession, citing reasons including anti-Turkish and anti-Islamic protests in Stockholm but Sweden finally became a NATO member in March.

    At the time, the Swedish government said it “strongly rejects the Islamophobic act committed by individuals in Sweden,” adding that the desecrations did not reflect the country’s stand.

    In July last year, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement saying that “the insult to the Holy Quran in Sweden is a bitter, conspiratorial, dangerous event” and that the desecrations have “created feelings of hatred and enmity” in Muslim nations toward the people burning the Quran and their governments.

    In a separate statement, SAPO’s operational manager Fredrik Hallström said Tuesday that the intent of the text messages was to “paint the image of Sweden as an Islamophobic country and create division in society.”

    He accused “foreign powers” of seeking to “exploit vulnerabilities” and said they were “now acting more and more aggressively, and this is a development that is likely to escalate.” He did not name any specific country.

    Meanwhile, Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, told Swedish news agency TT “that a state actor, in this case Iran, according to (SAPO’s) assessment is behind an action that aims to destabilize Sweden or increase polarization in our country is of course very serious.”

    There is no law in Sweden specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or other religious texts. Like many Western countries, Sweden doesn’t have any blasphemy laws.

    “Since the actors are acting for a foreign power, in this case Iran, we make the assessment that the conditions for prosecution abroad or extradition to Sweden are lacking for the persons suspected of being behind the breach,“ Ljungqvist said.

    Ljungqvist, who is with the Sweden’s top prosecution authority, said that although the preliminary investigation has been closed, it “does not mean that the suspected hackers have been completely written off” and that the probe could be reopened.

    Sweden’s domestic security agency in May accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish interests in the Scandinavian country.

    Iran’s Embassy in Sweden could not be reached for a comment on Tuesday.

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    Associated Press writer Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.

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  • Blinken confident in Finland, Sweden accession to NATO

    Blinken confident in Finland, Sweden accession to NATO

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    WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday the United States is confident that Finland and Sweden will be approved soon for membership in NATO despite ratification delays in allies Turkey and Hungary.

    After meeting his Finnish and Swedish counterparts on Thursday, Blinken said both countries had proved their bona fides to join the alliance, notably in joining NATO in providing support to Ukraine to counter Russia’s invasion.

    Nearly all of NATO’s 30 members have already approved Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the alliance, which were made after Russia launched its war in Ukraine. Turkey and Hungary are the only two to not yet have ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession.

    “Both countries have taken significant, concrete actions to fulfill their commitments, including those related to the security concerns on the part of our ally, Turkey,” Blinken said. “As their membership process continues, the United States is fully committed to Finland and Sweden’s accession.”

    But Blinken said he believed Turkey’s concerns, notably with Sweden over its past support for Kurdish groups that Ankara sees as a threat, would be overcome in the near future. Sweden this week extradited a convicted member of the Kurdish PKK militant group to Turkey. Hungary’s parliament is expected to vote on NATO expansion early next year.

    “I’m confident that NATO will formally welcome Finland and Sweden as members soon,” he told reporters at a joint news conference at the State Department with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.

    Blinken took the opportunity to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to go to war with Ukraine had backfired if he truly intended to push back on NATO expansion.

    “As Sweden and Finland prepare to join NATO, we know that he’s failed at weakening our alliance,” he said. “Indeed, he’s only made NATO stronger and bigger.”

    Haavisto said discussions with Turkey over the PKK have gone well so far, although there was still not a date for the Turkish parliament to consider the expansion.

    “Of course, our hope is that this decision should come from Turkey rather sooner than later,” he said.

    Billstrom said he would soon travel to Turkey to continue talks on the matter. “I hope that the outcome of that discussion will also bring us forward,” he said.

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  • Sweden’s leader courts Turkey’s support for NATO membership

    Sweden’s leader courts Turkey’s support for NATO membership

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Sweden still has “many steps to take” to win Turkey’s approval for its NATO membership bid, a top Turkish official said Tuesday as Sweden’s new prime minister visited Ankara in hopes of eliminating the hurdle to his country joining the military alliance.

    Sweden and Finland abandoned their longstanding policies of military nonalignment and applied for NATO membership after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, fearing that Russian President Vladimir Putin might target them next.

    But Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, has not yet endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from existing alliance members. The Turkish government accused Sweden — and to a lesser degree Finland — of ignoring its security concerns.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is pressing the two countries to crack down on individuals it considers terrorists, including supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and people suspected of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

    Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson held talks with Turkish parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet with Erdogan at the Turkish presidential palace complex.

    Turkey also has called for the lifting of an arms embargo imposed following its 2019 incursion into northern Syria to combat Kurdish militants. Sweden last month said it would lift the embargo, a step seen as an effort to secure Ankara’s approval for its NATO membership.

    Sentop said the Turkish parliament welcomed Sweden’s decision to remove restrictions in the defense industry but said groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists were still able to conduct “propaganda, financing and recruitment activities” in Sweden.

    “No progress has been made regarding our extradition requests,” Sentop added.

    Kristersson wrote Monday on Facebook that “we will do significantly more in Sweden through new legislation that provides completely new opportunities to stop participation in terrorist organizations.”

    Sweden would also support NATO’s counter-terrorism fund to support the alliance’s ability to fight terrorism, Kristersson wrote.

    Sweden’s new center-right government is taking a harder line not just toward the PKK, but also toward the Syrian Kurdish militia group YPG and its political branch, PYD. Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian arm of the PKK

    Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in an interview with Swedish Radio over the weekend that there were close links between the PKK and the YPG/PYD. Sweden would therefore “keep a distance” from Syrian groups in order not to harm relations with Turkey, the minister said.

    Members of Sweden’s previous Social Democratic government criticized the comments. Former Justice Minister Morgan Johansson called the new government’s handling of the NATO accession process “worrying and acquiescent.”

    Kurds in Sweden were also critical. Kurdo Baksi, a Kurdish writer and commentator who has lived in Sweden for decades, called Billström’s remarks disrespectful given the sacrifices Syrian Kurds made in fighting the Islamic State group.

    In Syria, PYD spokesperson Sama Bakdash accused Turkey of supporting “terrorist factions” in Syria.

    “We believe that the Swedish government’s bowing to Turkish blackmail contradicts the principles and morals of Swedish society and the humanitarian attitudes that characterized Sweden at the global level,” she said.

    All 30 NATO member countries must officially ratify the accession protocol for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance. Only the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary have yet to do so.

    Last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg traveled to Turkey and urged the country to set aside its reservations, insisting the Nordic neighbors had done enough to satisfy Ankara’s concerns.

    Turkish officials have said Sweden and Finland must first meet demands that were agreed to in a joint memorandum. The 10-article memorandum was unveiled ahead of a NATO summit in June after Turkey threatened to veto the countries’ applications.

    “Both countries have taken a number of steps, but it is difficult to say that they have fulfilled their commitments at this stage,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying late Monday.

    Cavusoglu described Kristersson’s visit as “critical” in terms of Sweden taking “concrete steps” to meet Turkey’s demands.

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    Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of NATO at https://apnews.com/hub/nato

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  • Swedish Parliament elects conservative prime minister

    Swedish Parliament elects conservative prime minister

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    STOCKHOLM — The Swedish parliament on Monday elected Ulf Kristersson — the conservative Moderate Party leader — as prime minister at the head of a minority coalition that is being supported by a once-radical far-right party.

    Kristersson, 59, was elected by a vote of 176 to 173 and will present his government on Tuesday. His three-party coalition does not have a majority, but in Sweden, prime ministers can govern as long as there is no parliamentary majority against them.

    After a month of talks with the anti-immigration populist Sweden Democrats, Kristersson presented an agreement that gave them an unprecedented position of influence in Swedish politics. They took over 20% of the vote at the Sept. 11 election.

    Kristersson’s center-right coalition government is made up of his party, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, but he has said it will remain in “close collaboration” with the Sweden Democrats. He depends on the support of the Sweden Democrats to secure a majority in Parliament, enabling them to influence government policy from the sidelines.

    The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by far-right extremists. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Jimmie Akesson, who took over the party in 2005.

    Akesson, who doesn’t consider his party far-right, said he would have preferred Cabinet seats for the Sweden Democrats, but he supported the deal that would give his party influence over government policy, including on immigration and criminal justice.

    Since the election, the populist party has landed the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees, giving it the ability to wield more influence in mainstream Swedish politics.

    Kristersson will be replacing Magdalena Andersson, who heads Sweden’s largest party, the Social Democrats, which now are in opposition. He backs Sweden’s historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

    “It feels great, I am grateful,” Kristersson told a press conference. “ I am happy about the trust that I have received from the Riksdag. I am also humbled by the tasks that lie ahead of us.”

    The center-left opposition heavily criticized the new governing coalition, with Lena Hallgren of the Social Democrats, calling it “a strange construction.”

    Many said it represented a paradigm shift in Sweden and would damage its image in the world as an egalitarian and tolerant nation. Nooshi Dadgostar, the leader of the former communist Left Party, said her parents who fled from Iran could never have imagined that Sweden would embark on an authoritarian path.

    “What is happening now in Sweden is frightening,” she told Parliament.

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  • Sweden: Right-wing party get 4 chairmanships in parliament

    Sweden: Right-wing party get 4 chairmanships in parliament

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    STOCKHOLM — A right-wing populist party that received the second-most votes in Sweden’s general election last month landed the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees Saturday and with it, the ability to wield more influence in mainstream Swedish politics.

    The positions to be held by lawmakers from the Sweden Democrats include chairing the Riksdag’s justice, foreign affair, business affairs and labor market committees.

    “It is important for us, a milestone in the party’s history,” legislator Richard Jomshof, a Sweden Democrat who was tapped to be the next chairman of the justice committee, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT. “It is an expression of the fact that we are Sweden’s second largest party.”

    In addition to the four chairperson posts, the party was allowed to name the vice-chairs of parliament’s civil affairs, traffic, defense and tax committees.

    Sweden Democrats, a nationalist and anti-immigration party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, is part of right-wing bloc that won a narrow majority in the Riksdag in the Sept. 11 election.

    Decisions on the posts were announced Friday in a joint statement from the four center-right parties that are in talks to form a coalition government. Sweden Democrats, which is one of the four, announced its nominees Saturday.

    Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the center-right Moderates, the party that placed third, has been tasked with forming a government that is likely to have the Sweden Democrats as part of a governing coalition or at least the party’s support in securing a majority in parliament.

    Kristersson has until Oct. 12 to present results of his talks with parties to Parliament speaker Andreas Norlen.

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