DEATH THREATS ADD TO SWEDISH MUSLIM WOES

The attack is not the first to target Stockholm mosque. (Photo:OnIslam)

Stockholm, 21 Rabiul Akhir 1436/11 February 2015 (MINA) – In a new attack targeting the Muslim religious minority in Sweden, the imam of the main Stockholm mosque has received death threats after which the Swedish police strengthened security around the Muslims’ worshipping houses.

“The police have taken several steps and we have contact with them,” Omar Mustafa, president of the Islamic Association of Sweden, told broadcaster Sveriges Television, Local.se reported.

“We hope that they clear this up very quickly,” On Islam reported as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The threats to Stockholm main mosque were made last Friday. It followed the arrival of a package of white powder which was sent to the mosque located near Medborgarplatsen in central Stockholm.

“I can’t go into detail but it was a direct death threat which the police have taken seriously,” Mustafa said.

Although the said powder turned out to be harmless, Stockholm police said that security at the mosque has been strengthened. The attack is not the first to target Stockholm mosque.

According to the anti-racism magazine Expo, there have been at least a dozen confirmed attacks on mosques in Sweden in the last year and a far larger number are believed to have gone unreported.

On Christmas day, at least five people were hurt in another fire at a mosque in Eskilstuna in central Sweden.

Meanwhile, another mosque in Esloev in southern Sweden was set to fire in a suspected arson. A few days later, third mosque arson was reported last week in Sweden’s fourth largest city Uppsala.

The attacks come amid rising tide of the anti-immigration trend in the European country.

Muslims make up between 450,000 and 500,000 of Sweden’s nine million people, according to the US State Department report in 2011.

In 2013, around 300 hate crimes against Muslims were reported in Sweden. Such incidents are on the rise according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet). (T/P011/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)