The 60-year-old leader of a mosque in Tyresö, Sweden, has been arrested on suspicion of direct participation in a terrorism organization. The Somali imam was heading a mosque on a volunteer basis, teaching children and youth on the premises of a Muslim cultural association.
The imam has been leading the mosque at least since the early 2000s, and for a time functioned as the chairman of the cultural association. His arrest was the result of an investigation following a raid by Swedish security services SÄPO in March, where four men in their 20s were detained.
Two of those, converts to Islam, have now been arrested on suspicion of preparation for terrorism and aggravated weapons offense. The two others are members of a known criminal gang. According to TV4, some of the suspects have been on the radar of law enforcement since September of last year.
A SÄPO spokesman declined commenting on which terrorist organization the five are connected with, but in earlier statements to the media, another spokesman said security services saw “international links to the terrorist organization Islamic State.”
The Muslim cultural association under which the mosque has functioned has received taxpayer support to the tune of approximately €85,000 through two different government funds. Isak Reichel, director and head of the Authority for Support to Religious Communities, said the arrest is serious because “it risks eroding trust in the government grant system … and also risks tarnishing other congregations that have done nothing wrong.”
The Swedish Muslim Association told TV4 they have frozen the group’s membership. “The investigation is ongoing, so we cannot give out any information because of SÄPO’s involvement,” a board member said.
Representatives for the Tyresö Muslim cultural association told media they were “shocked about the situation” but “choose not to comment” on their mosque being connected with terrorism.
The most recent arrest in Sweden comes at the heels of Islamist demonstrations in Hamburg where immigrant Muslims called for a caliphate to combat ‘Islamophobia’ and the revelation that underground mosques in Italy have become breeding grounds for Islamist extremists.
