An immigrant restaurant owner who fled Iraq 20 years ago has left Sweden and returned to his home country because of the violent crime he faced in his Stockholm suburb.
I moved to Sweden because it was a safe country. Now I’m moving from Sweden because it’s not safe anymore.
The man, speaking under the alias ‘Amin,’ said in an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that he was the object of threats and violent attacks by criminal gangs and was forced to pay them to avoid harassment.
Amin came to Sweden after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, started a business, got married, and had children. But his successful restaurant was threatened by growing criminal activity in the area. A drug cartel began to extort business owners, typically demanding $1,000-5,000 per month to ‘protect’ them. Businesses that refused to pay suffered vandalism and threats.
”Imagine how it feels if you work ten hours a day. And then some disgusting person comes and threatens you and says nasty things to you,” Amin said.
Refusing to give up his hard-earned money, he was faced with increasingly violent threats. “I’ll destroy your whole d**n face. Your family won’t recognize you anymore,” one gang member says in an audio recording Amin collected as evidence. Over a decade, he was repeatedly threatened and assaulted.
The threats and violence forced him to close his restaurant, and the tense situation also led to his marriage falling apart.
Amin’s experiences highlight the growing insecurity in Swedish cities, where gang crime increasingly disrupts everyday life for many residents.
Once a homogenous country where every murder made the front page of every newspaper, had from the beginning of 2024 until May 15th experienced 109 shootings with 14 dead and 19 injured. During the same period, police recorded 50 bombings, 29 attempted bombings, and 74 preparations for bombing attacks.
Last year, the total number of shootings recorded by police in the country was 363, with 53 deaths, as well as 149 bombings.
Back in Iraq, Amin has again opened a restaurant and says about his current situation, “I live like a king! I am developing, I feel good. It is much safer in Iraq than in Sweden.”
