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Sweden Democrats leader says ‘fundamentalist Muslims’ cannot be Swedes

Speaking in an interview, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson said he does not believe that you can be a "fully practicing Muslim" and at the same time a fully integrated Swede.

Published: 6 May 2023 14:50 CEST

Sweden Democrats leader says 'fundamentalist Muslims' cannot be Swedes

Leader of the Sweden Democrats Jimmie Akesson arrives to a parliament session in October 2022. Photo: Jonathan NACKSTRAND/AFP.

Speaking to Göteborgs-Posten (GP) the Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson supported recent comments made by his party colleague Richard Jomshof that there is an “Islamisation of Sweden”, and stated that more ‘fundamentalist’ Muslims can be considered fully integrated Swedes.

“It is clear that when the Muslim minority grows quite rapidly, as it has done in recent decades, it affects society in some way,” Jimmie Åkesson told GP, arguing that it leads to increased division and brings with it values “that we have more or less eradicated in this country.”

READ ALSO: ‘Islamist dictator’: Swedish far-right leader rejects further concessions to Turkey

“Of course, it’s difficult to be considered Swedish” for more ‘fundamentalist’ or ‘fully practicing’ Muslims, he added.

Though Åkesson did say that you can be Muslim in Sweden, he does not believe that you can be a fully integrated Swede “if you are a fundamentalist Muslim, [and] you also tend to have values that we do not associate with modern society.”

“On the view of gender equality, how to raise children, the view of animals and such, it differs… it is difficult to be considered Swedish by other Swedes.”

“It’s about the degree of faith and the order in which you place your identities. If you put the Muslim identity at the top, I find it difficult to see how you can have a fully Swedish identity,” the party leader added.

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'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast.

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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