Sweden 2025

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. The proliferation of those gangs with Iranian support has heavily contributed to the deterioration of Sweden' security as between 2020 and 2024, 698 people were shot dead in 73 different municipalities. 235 of them died. 71 municipalities can be assessed as having a clear presence of criminal gangs and only 5 out of 100 municipalities have been spared from shootings in 2020–2024. (Source) 

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)

12/02/2025: The National Center for Terrorism Assessment has published the Assessment of the terrorist threat in 2025. The report assumes that the primary threat comes from lone individuals with Islamist or Far-Right extremist motives and describes Swedish and international conducive elements that are relevant for the intention and ability to carry out terrorist attacks in Sweden. The targets of the Islamist threat are mostly Jewish, Christian and symbolic victims loosely linked to Israel or perceived as Islamophobic individuals. Terrorist actors meet and radicalize both online and in physical environments but Islamist groups may exploit mosques and other religious platforms to raise funds. Contacts with sympathizers abroad are ensured through intermediaries on encrypted communication channels. This is believed to have a radicalizing effect by encouraging and increasing the willingness to commit terrorist attacks and other ideologically motivated crimes. The Palestine-Israel war, the Hezbollah and new the dynamics in Syria and Afghanistan are potential factors that may enhance Islamist radicalization in Sweden. Interestingly, the assessment highlighted a new trend of Swedish sympathizers heading to African in order to join local Jihadist groups such as the IS wing in Somalia. But more importantly, Sweden is no longer deemed to be a priority target for terrorists. (Source)

On this occasion, National Center for Terrorism Assessment director Ahn-Za Hagström, confirmed in an interview with TT that the number of threats against Sweden has decreased since the fall of 2023. However the threat level remains at level four on a five-point scale. (Source)

14/02/2025: Zaker Mohsini, who was arrested in June 2024 under suspicions of terrorism financing in Somalia, has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for aggravated terrorist financing, aggravated participation in a terrorist organization and three terrorist trips. His trial started on January 9, 2025 and this is the first time that someone has been convicted of participating in a terrorist organization since the new law was introduced in January 2023. (Source)

17/02/2025: The four individuals who were arrested in March 2024 during the Säpo raid on a Islamic cultural association in Tyresö, were all sentenced by the Stockholm District Court for participating in a terrorist organization. Three of the men are in their 20s, and two of them are brothers. They developped throughout their radicalization process ties to the Somali wing of IS and they also reportedly have been involved in gang crime. The fourth man is 63 years old and made hate preaches to the three others, notably by promoting antisemitism. Their trial started on December 10, 2024, and the oldest brother, who is 25, is sentenced to six years in prison, while the 23-year-old younger brother is sentenced to five years and six months. Their childhood friend, a 21-year-old man, received the harshest sentence of six and a half years of prison. The last individual had a three-year sentence. All four are convicted of participating in a terrorist organization however, none of the men were convicted of preparing a terrorist crime. (Source)

In compliance with the new Swedish legislation adopted in 2023 allowing prosecutors to freeze the assets of people suspected of or convicted of terrorist crimes, the four individuals' assets were frozen alongside those of two other suspects in order to prevent terrorist acts. (Source)

27/02/2025: The two Afghani terrorists arrested in Thuringia in Germany back in March 2024, were sentenced by a German Court to five years and six months in prison for the 30-year-old convicted and four years and two months in prison for the 23-year-old one. During the investigation it was determined that both were affiliated to the Khorasan wing of IS, ISKP, and they have planned the act as revenge for the Quran burnings in Sweden. Both were ultimately convicted of terrorist plots and membership in the terrorist organization. They mapped the area around the Riksdag online and also tried to obtain weapons, which they failed to do, in order to kill as many victims as possible. (Source)

11/03/2025: Säpo published a grim report stating that the Sweden's security situation for 2024/2025 is compromised and the risk of deterioration remains significant.  According to the assessment of Säpo, Russia stands as the main threat for Sweden national security alongside violent extremism emanating from Islamist and Far-Right militants who threaten Rule of Law by various conspiracy theories and their normalization. The traditional terrorist threat has increasingly been replaced by the radicalization of young people, especially online, and their attraction to brutal violence without ideological connections. Young Far-Right extremists often have the ability to commit acts of violence, but not always with the same explicit intent as can be seen within the violent Islamist environment. Säpo deems that the threat from the traditional violent and organized Far-Right extremist environment is decreasing while Islamism is filling the void. Speaking of which, the Islamist terrorist threat to Sweden is still considered to be at a high level, which remained unchanged since 2023. Even though Säpo highlights the recent cases of individual convicted of terrorist activities in February 2025 as encouraging improvements for the Swedish legal arsenal, the Quran burnings and the war between Hamas and Israel were decisive fuels for tensions and radicalization against Sweden with serious potential outcomes in the near future. Säpo once again reiterates that the threat of attacks against Sweden primarily consists of lone individuals or small groups referring to extreme interpretations of Islam and acting with simple means against easily accessible targets. The activities made possible by terrorism financing affect the degree of propaganda dissemination, radicalization and recruitment and ultimately sustain violent Islamist environments and the long-term terrorist threat. (Source)

12/03/2025: Sveriges Radio reacted over an alarming trend that the Swedish National Center for Terrorism Assessment reported in the latest threat assessment, namely the raising number of Swedes who have travelled or attempted to travel to join terrorist groups in Africa, including the IS wing in Somalia. According to Per Lindqvist, head of the prosecutors investigating terrorist crimes, it is a main issue because those Swedish sympathizers are trying to entice others to travel abroad to join the group. Indeed Swedes who managed to reach African fronts have continued contact with people in Sweden for the purpose of recruiting for the terrorist groups. The case is reminiscent of Zaker Moshini's back in February 2025. He was arrested in June 2024 on his way to Somalia where he previously traveled at least twice and was thereafter charged with collecting funds for IS activities in Somalia. At the end of his trial, he was convicted of terrorism financing which is the first verdict handed down in Sweden for this specific crime following the adoption of a harsher legislation in January 2023. In the past, Somalia was already a favored destination for Foreign Fighters recruited in the Nordics from the local Somali diasporas by Al-Shabaab, especially after the 2006 invasion by Ethiopia. In 2009 Al-Shabaab spiritual leader Sheikh Hassan Hussein, came to the Bellevue mosque in Gothenburg, which stood firm against the protests, to attend the 7th Somali Islamic Convention and allegedly, recruit potential fighters. However, the group influence started to fade away when Al-Shabaab's brutality started to be way too notorious and embarassing. Regardless, new patterns tend to suggest that IS in Somalia manage to recruit individuals in Sweden beyond the Somali community nowadays. (Source)

In retaliation for the attacks conducted throughout 2024 by the Foxtrot network against the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on behalf of Iran, the United States have enforced sanctions against the criminal network and its designated leader Rawa Majid, the so-called "Kurdish Fox". The sanction statement proclaimed that "the Department of State, together with the Department of the Treasury, will continue to expose and impose costs on the Iranian regime for its malign activities as part of the Trump Administration’s renewed maximum pressure campaigns.  This action also underscores our commitment to hold accountable those individuals and organizations who work in conjunction with the regime in Tehran to undermine our nation’s safety and security and our global partners". Actions taken against Foxtrot thus imply restrictions of freedom of movement for its members and freezing their assets while inflicting penalties against the banks where their accounts are still open. Majid is already internationally wanted for involvement in Foxtrot and according to Mossad, he was recruited by Iran in 2023. Swedish Islamist terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp and Crime reporter Simon Andrén, praised the initiative undertaken by American authorities and deemed that they would effectively undermine Foxtrot activities. (Source)

28/03/2025: Säpo reported that Osama Krayem was ultimately extradited from France to Sweden and is now detained at Stockholm District Court on suspicion of terrorist crimes and a serious war crime. The preliminary investigation regarding Krayem involvment in the torture of a Jordanian pilot in a gruesome clip is still ungoing under the leadership of prosecutors at the National Security Unit. (Source)

Swedish investigation website Doku published a worrisome research article stating that leading academic figures from several universities were reported posting comments glorifying terrorism and spreading antisemite narratives on social networks. Doku's report does not mention any names, but three people in the university and college world and what they have written on social media are highlighted as examples. Their statements range from support to Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, to depicting leading Jewish representative, Aron Verständig, in dehumanizing terms as a "murderer". (Source)

One of the scholars anonymously denounced by Doku was successfuly identified by the Chairman of the Central Jewish Council as sociologist Pär Engholm, who has worked at Stockholm University and Uppsala University. Consequently, Aron Verständig has reportedly filed a police report on March 29 for defamation. (Source)

14/04/2025: The United Kingdom has joined the fray in the enforcement of sanctions against the so-called Foxtrot Network and its leader Rawa Majid with enhanced restrictions targeting the Iran-backed criminal organization. Those new measures range from asset freeze and travel ban to director disqualification. (Source)

25/04/2025: According to a counterterrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp, the information regarding Rawa Majid, also known as "the Kurdish Fox," claiming that he lives and operates in Iran, where he is protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shall be considered credible. Rawa Majid, a central figure in organized crime in Sweden, is reportedly linked to several terrorist acts against Jewish-Israeli interests in Sweden and Denmark and is the leader of the Foxtrot criminal network. The report highlights that it is plausible Majid has expanded his operations, manipulating his contacts from abroad, as Swedish authorities have difficulty taking action against him while he remains outside the country. The expert warns that the type of threat represented by Rawa Majid — combining organized crime with extreme violence — complicates the work of security services and could continue to fuel serious instability within Sweden. (Source)

29/04/2025: Swedish investigation media Doku, reported cases of incitement to terrorism during the Palestine demonstration in Gothenburg, where Huda Faraj, chairwoman of the United Front for Palestine, openly supported the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel, declaring, "Every single one of us here stands behind October 7. We are all October 7", which was met with cheers from the crowd. Faraj and other organizers, including Khaled Ahmad, who often posts terrorist propaganda, have repeatedly expressed support for the attacks and those responsible, including Hamas. Faraj introduced Ahmad at the demonstration, calling him the "October 7th man", and emphasized that all attendees stood for the same cause. Thereza Eriksson, daughter of former EU parliamentarian Soraya Post, also praised the October 7 attack, stating that it was not a new event but a clearer display of resistance. Her comments were met with chants of "long live the resistance" from the demonstrators. These individuals have used the platform of the United Front for Palestine to glorify the attack and promote the terrorist actions of Hamas and other militant groups. (Source)