Two men locked up over murder of gang criminal’s mother

Two young men have been convicted of murdering the mother of a leading gang member, a shooting that sparked a bloody gang war in Sweden last winter. Uppsala district court sentenced a Yahia Ali Ibrahim, 20, to life in jail and a 16-year-old to four years in juvenile detention.

“The murder resembles an execution, and sparked a chain of violent retaliation,” judge Jenny Forkman said in a statement.

According to the district court, it’s been confirmed that the 20-year-old held the gun when the woman – in her 60s with no criminal record – was shot dead in her home in Uppsala. But the younger boy participated so actively that the court handed him, too, a murder conviction.

If he had been 18 years old he would also have been locked up for life, said Forkman.

Both men denied the charges.

Swedish vocabulary: a district court – en tingsrätt

Swedish soldiers stayed in Russian-owned cottages

The Swedish Armed Forces during the latest Nato exercise in northern Norway rented cottages owned by Russian politicians with links to the Kremlin, they have confirmed after a reports by Norwegian broadcaster TV2. The Norwegian military also rented the cottages. 

A representative of the holiday village told TV4 on Sunday that the Swedish Armed Forces rented two cottages with 32 beds in total for two weeks in March. The Armed Forces confirm that soldiers lived in the cottages for a short period of time during the Nordic Response exercise.

A spokesperson told Swedish news agency TT that they didn’t know who owned the cottages.

“No of course not. We wouldn’t have booked them. It’s incredibly unfortunate that this has happened,” Sofia Kalmeborg told TT.

“It’s not good at all. That’s Swedish tax money in Russian pockets.”

She said they however didn’t believe that there had been any breach of security as a result of staying in the cottages.

Swedish vocabulary: a cottage – en stuga

Klarna fined 1.1 million kronor over night shifts

Upholding a decision by Sweden’s Work Environment Authority, an administrative court has told fintech giant Klarna to pay a fine of 1.1 million kronor for asking some staff to work night shifts, reports DI Digital. 

In Sweden, employees are by law entitled to at least 11 consecutive non-work hours every day, and the hours between midnight and 5am must be included in that, so that staff are able to get their rest.

Exceptions can be made for vital services such as hospitals or businesses that can’t stop running at night, or businesses with a collective bargaining agreement, which in many cases allow for night shifts but which Klarna didn’t have at the time.

A wide range of businesses have in the past been told not to work night shifts, including Spotify and a strip club.

“We have received and are analysing the administrative court’s verdict which refers to the period of 2021 and 2022. Klarna has from there onwards had an exemption from the Work Environment Authority for night work, which solves the basic issue for the future,” a press officer told TT.

Swedish vocabulary: administrative court – förvaltningsrätt

Sweden to ramp up drive to retain foreign students and researchers

The government has tasked a new inquiry with figuring out how to make Sweden a more attractive destination for foreign students, doctoral students and researchers – while cracking down on permit cheats.

Forty-one percent of people who started doctoral studies in Sweden in 2022 were foreigners, rising to 63 percent in natural sciences, the government said as it announced the inquiry on Monday.

The inquiry is supposed to analyse whether Sweden’s migration rules are fit for the purpose of attracting and retaining foreign researchers and propose measures to make it easier for them to stay, amid concerns that too many talents leave the country after finishing their studies.

The inquiry will also suggest ways of clamping down on foreigners who abuse the system. In a report in 2022, the Migration Agency found that a large number of people use their student permit as an easier way of moving to Sweden to work, instead of applying for a work permit.

Swedish vocabulary: an inquiry – en utredning