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Sweden tightens terror law as tensions rise with Türkiye over NATO bid

Swedish government proposes new legislation on anti-terror law to widen the scope of activities that can be prosecuted, saying that threat level increased for the country after Paludan's burning of the Quran.

AP

Sweden and Finland applied last year to join NATO after Russia's attack on Ukraine, but faced objections from Türkiye and have since sought to win its support.

Sweden's government has proposed new legislation to ban activities linked to extremist groups, in a move to toughen anti-terror laws, a key demand from Türkiye to approve Stockholm's NATO bid.

The legislation proposed on Thursday widens the scope of activities that can be prosecuted.

"This is a wider criminalisation that takes aim at a slew of activities within a terrorist organisation that don't need to be concretely connected to a specific terrorist crime," Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told a press conference.

The new law, which the government hopes will come into force in June, will give authorities much wider powers to detain and prosecute individuals who support terrorist organisations, either through financing or other means.

Actions such as handling equipment, organising camps or locations for meetings, cooking or being in charge of transport for designated terrorist organisations would be criminalised under the new law, which Strommer stressed was a "considerable widening of the scope compared to current legislation".

Until now it had been hard to prosecute people unless their actions could be coupled to a specific terrorist act, Strommer said. The new law would cover all forms of participation.

Strommer said that the need for tighter laws had been highlighted by the attack in central Stockholm in 2017 in which a man mowed down pedestrians on a busy shopping street, killing five.

But he added that the threat level had increased recently with Sweden seen as a legitimate target after the burning of the Quran in front of Turkish embassy in Stockholm by far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan in Stockholm last month, among other things.

"There is a clearer and stronger rhetoric," Strommer said.

Sweden 'not doing enough'

Sweden committed to ramping up cooperation with Türkiye in fighting terrorism as part of an agreement reached in June aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to Sweden and Finland becoming members of NATO.

Türkiye suspended talks last month, saying Sweden was not doing enough, after protests in Stockholm including that by Paludan.

"Our position on Finland is positive, but it is not positive on Sweden," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

Strommer said the new law would not affect the right to demonstrate nor prevent people from showing PKK terror group symbols.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the United States and the EU -including Sweden.