Four apprehended rather political than criminal case
Police raids on Monday night, 19 April, 2004, in the Swedish capital Stockholm and in the southern city of Malmo resulted in four people being apprehended as suspected “terrorists”. They were indicted Tuesday, accused of “assisting the Iraqi resistance in carrying out terror attacks against US troops”.
The Swedish police was acting on information given to them by U.S. authorities. Exactly what kind of assistance the four have supposedly given, is not publicly know at present.
Swedish press reports claim that the four detainees are of “foreign origin”. One of them seems to be Swedish citizen, a 35-year old pizza baker, resident in Sweden from 1991 and known as not very pious and therefore probably not Islamist, as well as two Arab Iraqis, and one “stateless Lebanese”, probably Palestinian. All are reported to be between 20 and 30 of age.
The Aftonbladet writes that “the detained are suspected for the mildest degree of suspicion, which indicates that the proofs are weak. All deny responsibility for any crime.”
So it is clear that this is a weak and very probably a political case.
Already the accusation of being related to “terror act against the US troops in Iraq” as a clear breach of international law which stipulates that armed resistance against foreign invaders and occupants is legitimate.
The repressive move is another proof for the fact that even the countries which opposed the US-led war like Sweden embark on the US drive against the democratic rights. The “war on terror” got two sides: On one hand the pre-emptive and permanent war against all forces of the Third World resisting the American empire. And on the other hand restrictions of the political rights within the West itself in order to impede criticism and dissent and to create the conditions to repress the opponents of the war and especially those who express political solidarity to the resistance and liberation movements against imperialism.
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Report based information provided by Anders Püschel, Sweden, and Lars Akerhaug, Norway
