The Local om svensken i Hizbul Islaam

Det är lätt att glömma hur stor webbtidningen The Local är. Människor som letar efter engelskspråkig bevakning av Sverige har nästan bara den att vända sig till (och SR Internationals telegramartade grejer). Den som söker på Google News, exempelvis, efter svenska nyheter hamnar nästan alltid hos The Local.

Därför är det extra glädjande att alltid pigga The Local plockar upp min nyhet om den svenske medborgaren som sitter i ledningen för Hizbul Islaam, och dessutom infogar några pratminus med mig.

Per Gudmundson, an editorial writer with SvD who has written extensively about Swedish terror connections in Somalia, says it’s regrettable that Swedish authorities weren’t able to build a case against Ali and prevent him from returning to Somalia to participate in more violence.

“Part of the problem is that the Swedish security services, law enforcement, and prosecutors don’t have the resources to carry out the costly and time consuming work of tracing money all the way back to al-Shabaab,” he told The Local.

“Of course, they also operate with the goal of preventing crimes from taking place in Sweden, and don’t have the legal tools to prevent crimes from occurring abroad.”

Gudmundson also noted that revelations of a Swedish citizen leading an Islamic terrorist group in Somalia hadn’t gotten much attention in the Swedish press or among Swedes in general.

While news about Africa seldom attracts a great deal of attention, he theorized that Swedes’ views about citizenship may also have something to do with the general lack of awareness of Ali’s case.

“In the eyes of most Swedes, a Swedish citizen of Somali origin is simply considered Somali,” he said.

“Swedes don’t really think it has anything to do with them.”