In light of recent demonstrations against the war in Gaza, the Swedish Migration Minister, Johan Forssell, has said that people who praise terrorist organisations and who do not have Swedish citizenship should not be in Sweden. These comments followed reports that during the demonstration, which was initiated in support of the Gaza people, flags of […]

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Swedish Minister wants to deport migrants who do not hold Swedish citizenship if they show support to terrorist groups.
  • The spokesperson for migration policy in Sweden wants the law to be even more stringent - to include anyone who shows such acts of support.
  • Tourists, citizens, and residence permit holders can all be affected by such changes.
  • JustinAEnglish
    621·
    2 months ago

    Sweden up until recently had freedom of organization protected in the constitution. This was changed in a recent constitutional amendment at the request of Turkey, as a prerequisite to join NATO. Turkey demanded that Sweden arrest “PKK members” (aka journalists that Erdogan doesn’t like), and to show support, both the Andersson and Kristersson administrations revived a constitutional amendment from 2021 and pushed it through, making it illegal to be a member of a terrorist organization.

    https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/2021/03/sou-202115/

    https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/220628-trilat-memo.pdf

    https://lagen.nu/2022:666

    It’s really an unfortunate development, since the terms “terrorist organization” and “support to terrorism” is so poorly defined, and it’s clearly intended to punish political opposition in dictatorships, like Turkish and Kurdish opposition in Turkey. Very much a chilling effect on political discussion when foreign political oppositions are banned from speaking in Sweden, even when racist hate groups are still allowed to speak.

    It does seem that the current law is still quite limited, at least. The Terrorist crime law of 2022 (Terroristbrottslagen) outlaws support, propagandizing, and recruiting for terrorist organizations, but this seems to be limited to only material support, organized propaganda and organization leadership. Simply going around waving a PKK flag still is legal, for now.

    https://www.ui.se/utrikesmagasinet/analyser/2023/juli/terrorlagar-domstolar-far-bedoma-flaggviftning/

    So luckily, I don’t think it’s possible to be deported simply for expressing expressing pro-Kurdish or pro-Palestinian independence ideas, or even expressing support for the violent people in PKK or Hamas.

    Johan Forssell has also expressed a wish for a new law making it illegal to be in a criminal gang, but this has not passed yet. His view on the ongoing wars with Israel seems to be that Israel “has a right to defend itself”, but that civilians must be protected and receive aid.