On April 7, 2017 in the afternoon and in the center of Swedish capital Stockholm, a truck at high speed drove into a crowd of people walking along the street. As a result of this attack, according to the Swedish police, four people were killed and 15 people were injured.

Immediately after the incident, just within an hour, the Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, addressed the people at the press conference and called the incident “a terrorist act”: “Sweden has been attacked. Everything indicates that it is a terrorist attack”, – IA “Еxpressen”. However, no one took responsibility for this “attack”, and there were no official statements from any combat groups. The special services and police refrained from all kinds of statements. It should be noted that this “terrorist attack” was the first in the modern history of Sweden, resulting in human casualties.

The hasty statement of Prime Minister Löfven immediately after the incident that it is an attack, without trial and investigation, makes someone wonder: “How does he know that this is an act of terrorism, and not an accident?” Since when does Prime Minister Löfven have the right to make such decisions without any evidence? Even the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who compromised himself and his FSB structure, in which he once worked, by a number of dubious terrorist attacks in the Russian Federation, on April 3, 2017, after an explosion in the St. Petersburg metro, refrained from the hasty statements, and said: “The reasons have not been yet identified and we always consider all the options – both domestic and criminal, and above all the manifestations of a terrorist nature. They will do everything in order to give a full assessment of what has happened”.

This act of Löfven reminds the action of the tyrant I. Karimov, who, after the planned terrorist acts in Tashkent in 1999, accused hastily some Islamic groups and individuals of committing this crime. This indicates that the Swedish authorities decided to use dictator methods to achieve their political goals, attacking Islam and Muslims.

On that occasion, the Swedish authorities began to create fear and panic among the inhabitants of Stockholm. The police, allegedly for security reasons, completely stopped the movement of the city subway, railway transport and buses in the city center. The stopping of public transport led to chaos and people could not get to their houses. The special units and policemen were on duty at the stations and central stops that were crowded with people, which even more terrified the residents of the capital.

Further, the events developed very quickly. The police distributed a photo of the alleged suspect from security cameras; it was an image of a man in a green jacket with a hood. In the evening of the same day, the suspect was detained. The suspect was a native of Uzbekistan, who applied for asylum in Sweden, but failed and had to leave the country. And therefore, he was already wanted from the end of February 2017.

Later, during the interrogations, the arrested person confessed that he did it and he was connected with ISIS, and, ultimately, this “terrorist attack” was associated with Islam and Muslims. This, in turn, aroused among the people a dislike for Muslims and newcomers, which was clearly manifested in the behavior of the population and the speeches of the politicians. In the next few days, people looked at Muslim women in hijabs with suspicion, fell into a stupor at the sight of a bearded Muslim and much more.

Immediately after the dissemination of this information, the accusations against the migration service, its bad work and the proposal to tighten migration legislation were followed. Some politicians declared about granting of the greater authority and material aid to the police and special services. One of the representatives of the “Moderators” Sotiris Delis said: “It is necessary to prohibit the activities of the organizations that are on the terrorist lists. Deprive subsidies of any organization that is not based on democratic principles. Those who were refused asylum should be immediately deported to their homeland. Strengthen the instruments and police resources in the fight against terrorism and organized crime”.

The head of the police of Sweden’s second largest city, Gothenburg, wrote on his Twitter page: “It cannot be right that we support people who want to overthrow democracy. Not that it prevented the attack on Friday, but of course we should be able to take a residence permit from those who support violent extremism”. This statement spread rapidly in social networks.

Today, there are several laws in Sweden relating to terrorist activities. Being a member of the so-called “terrorist organizations” is not a criminal offense, but only a financial support for “terrorist groups” and a direct participation in hostilities are punished. According to Justice Minister of Sweden Morgan Johansson, it is necessary to pass a law forbidding to be a member of a “terrorist organization”. The example is Norway, which has already introduced such a law in 2013.

A similar scenario and the further development of events we have already observed in the Republics of Central Asia, Russia, Europe and other countries. The Swedish authorities follow the policy of the United States, which imposed a war on the whole world against Islam and Muslims. Every time when there is a development of Islam in some country and an increase in the number of practicing Muslims, which obviously affects society, the authorities begin to create the image of an imaginary enemy – the threat of “Islamic terrorism”.

What happened in the center of Stockholm leaves a lot of questions: “How did the truck driver leave the car as the car raced along the street at a speed, crashed into the store and caught fire?”; “Where and how is the commission of the crime planned as in addition to the person arrested in committing this “terrorist attack” and his confessions, nothing was presented?”; “If the truck driver was going to commit suicide, why did he escape or was he not there?” – and many other questions to which clear answers have not been voiced.

And what is the result of all that happened? The result is the same as in other countries where such cases have occurred. The government issues the laws relating to “terrorist activities”, where the law is directed against Islam and Muslims. Here in Sweden, the authorities are going to introduce the laws concerning “terrorist activities”. If today in Sweden there are no lists of the so-called “terrorist organizations”, and, as a rule, these are the lists of the Islamic groups, then the lists of such groups will be created in the future or they will be borrowed from the United States, Russia or other countries.

This legislation will be an instrument in the hands of the authorities against the development of Islam and will allow the authorities to pursue those who call upon Islam as separate Muslims as well as the groups as a whole. Anyone who disagrees with the vicious ideas of secularism and the rights of freedom that lead a person to an animal-like way of life; anyone who calls for the truth and works on the revival of the Islamic way of life will be a potential “terrorist and extremist”.

Such an impudent and unpunished behavior of the disbelievers and their lackeys in the person of the rulers of Muslims is the consequence of the absence of a righteous state led by a righteous ruler who would force them to answer for their crimes and accusations against Islam and Muslims.

Muslims! Only a righteous Khilafah (Caliphate) led by a righteous Khaleefah (Caliph) is our salvation from the attacks, humiliations and persecutions.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:

«إِنَّمَا الإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ»

“The Imam is a shield, behind whom you fight and protect yourself”. (Muslim from Abu Hurayra

 

Eldar Khamzin

Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir