Terrorismen i Sverige enligt State Departement

På senare år har Säkerhetspolisen strävat mot ökad öppenhet. På många sätt har man lyckats - det är nu möjligt att söka information på myndigheten, och som tidningsläsare märker man att ansträngningar görs för att kommunicera varför saker ser ut som de gör. Men årsberättelsen är ändå alltför tunn.

Den 30 april kom amerikanska State Department ut med sina landrapporter för 2007 (del doc). Här finns betydligt skarpare information än den Säpo släpper ifrån sig. Jag har fetat lite bra fakta:

The Government of Sweden placed a high priority on increasing international cooperation against terrorism. Swedish authorities considered the threat of terrorist attacks inside Sweden to be low, but they monitored a number of known terrorists and terrorist organizations within their borders, including al-Qa’ida (AQ), Ansar al-Islam/Sunna, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Hizb Al-Tahrir, Hizballah, Islamic Jihad, and the Kongra-Gel/Kurdistan Worker’s Party (KGK/PKK). They provided logistical and financial support to their respective organizations abroad.

In August, the Swedish artist Lars Vilks published a picture of the prophet Muhammed depicted as a dog in the local Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda, as part of an article on freedom of speech. Several Muslim organizations condemned the picture. Al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) offered a bounty to encourage the assassination of Mr. Vilks and his editor for having published the drawings. Following this incident, a group claiming to be supporters of AQ published a video on an Islamic website attacking Sweden and Swedish companies.

In January, the government participated in the NATO-led operation Active Endeavour focusing on maritime antiterrorism measures such as boarding procedures and smuggled weapons searches. Building upon a 2006 initiative to better prepare the military to assist law enforcement in responding to terrorist incidents in 2007, the police began training military pilots and marine commanders on providing such assistance.

The Government of Sweden did not provide safe haven to terrorists or terrorist organizations. Terrorist organizations, however, exploited Sweden's considerable legal protections of personal freedoms and civil liberties to maintain a presence in the country. Sweden’s political asylum policy attracted individuals from areas of conflict. Although these numbers have not been verified, authorities on the subject have estimated there are approximately 1,500 members and supporters and 100 persons with ties to terrorist organizations in Sweden.

According to Swedish terrorism experts, members of terrorist groups, such as Ansar al-Islam, Ansar al-Sunna, and Hizballah, earned money in Sweden to finance terrorist activities in other countries. The Swedish government shut down the al-Aqsa Foundation in Malmo when it was suspected of facilitating such activity for Hizballah.

Swedish law does not provide the government independent national authority to freeze or seize assets, unless in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation. However, once the EU takes action, the government can and does freeze assets of entities and persons listed on the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee list. This procedure is managed through the Sanctions Act (1995). Sweden can also take action against entities designated by the EU clearinghouse process, although Sweden has not yet proposed individuals or entities for inclusion on such lists.

Sweden implemented UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373 sanctions against AQ and the Taliban. Without a designation by the UN or EU however, Swedish authorities only have the right to seize assets once a criminal investigation has been initiated. Efforts to create a national authority and address existing shortcomings are underway.

Sweden played an active role in UN and EU deliberations to develop legal instruments for the listing and de-listing of terrorist organizations and an appeals process after the freezing of financial assets.

Sweden’s ties to terrorism cases included:

In January, three Swedes, accused of participating in Somali Islamist militia activity targeting Ethiopian troops, were apprehended in Kenya and taken to a prison in Addis Ababa. They were later released and returned to Sweden.

In April, authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced 19 year-old, Bosnian-born Swedish citizen Mirsad Bektasevic to 15 years in prison on charges, inter alia, of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts against western targets.

In September, the 41-year old Lebanese-born Swedish citizen Oussama Kassir, arrested in the Czech Republic in 2005 pursuant to a U.S. arrest warrant and INTERPOL Red Notice, was extradited to the United States. He was accused of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists in connection with the planned establishment of an Islamist terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon.

Ahmed Essafri, a Moroccan-born Swedish citizen, was arrested in Morocco in December 2006 for allegedly having ties to the Moroccan Combatant Group and for participating in a recruitment network for foreign jihadis in Iraq. In September 2007, he was tried in Morocco on terrorism related charges.

In 2005, the Swedish Court of Appeal found Ali Berzengi and Ferman Abdullah, Iraqi citizens with Swedish residency permits, guilty of financially supporting Ansar al-Sunna terrorist actions in Irbil, Iraq. They remained in custody awaiting a government decision on deportation.


Through the European Common Foreign and Security Policy (EFSP), Sweden contributed to capacity-building projects in Morocco, Algeria, and Indonesia. Sweden participated in EUROPOL and EUROJUST, European law enforcement institutions that coordinated member states’ counterterrorism cooperation and activities. Additionally, it participated in the Nordic Council of Ministers Regional Forum for Nordic Governmental Cooperation.

Sweden drafted a development cooperation policy that identified ways that assistance could contribute to strengthening the recipient state’s ability to prevent terrorism. Sweden contributed $575,000 to the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, $160,000 to the UN Counterterrorism Implementation Taskforce, and $150,000 to two intergovernmental organizations concentrating on counterterrorism capacity-building programs in Africa. Sweden also contributed $150,000 to legal counterterrorism education efforts at the Jakarta Center for Law Enforcement Cooperation and initiated a dialogue with Pakistan on the possibility of providing greater training to Pakistani officials on terrorism financing methods.

Sweden has contributed 350 troops to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.