Sweden Democrat justice chair returns to post after hate crime probe dropped

Richard Jomshof, the Sweden Democrat chair of the parliamentary justice committee who stepped down earlier this month due to hate crime accusations, has returned to his post after the case against him was dropped.

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Jomshof was called into questioning last week where he was formally informed that he was suspected of agitation against an ethnic or national group (hets mot folkgrupp), a hate crime.
The investigation related to posts by other accounts which Jomshof republished on the X platform on May 28th.

One depicts a Muslim refugee family who is welcomed in a house which symbolises Europe, only to set the house on fire and exclaim “Islam first”. The other shows a Pakistani refugee who shouts for help and is rescued by a boat which symbolises England. He then attacks the family who helped him with a bat labelled “rape jihad”, according to the TT newswire.
Jomshof described the posts as “legitimate contributions to the political debate”.
“[He] has been interrogated, he’s explained how he interpreted the images and what his aim was. It was to show that some migrants and immigrants commit crimes,” prosecutor Joakim Zander told tabloid Aftonbladet on Wednesday after he dropped the case, adding that he does not believe Jomshof’s posts qualify as hets mot folkgrupp.
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Jomshof stepped down from his position as chair of the justice committee while he was under investigation, and will now return to his post.
“As a politician I will continue to form public opinion and create debate, especially when it comes to pointing out the consequences of mass migration to our country,” Jomshof told Aftonbladet.
Opposition parties the Social Democrats and the Greens have criticised Jomshof returning to his post, with Social Democrat justice spokesperson Ardalan Shekarabi describing him as “unsuitable”.
“He’s using this platform to spread hate and divide our society,” Shekarabi told the TT newswire. “That’s absolutely unsuitable for a chairman like this.”
“For us the fact that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the other parties in parliament support him is a huge question mark.”
Kristersson told TT when asked for his views on Jomshof returning to the post that he has “no opinion”.
“It would be presumptuous for the government or the prime minister to have views on various members of parliament,” he added.
It’s not the first time Jomshof has come under fire for his comments on Islam.
Last year, he called the Prophet Mohammed a “warlord, mass murderer, slave trader and bandit” in another post on X, sparking calls from the opposition for his resignation.

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T S

2024/09/26 09:38

Religion in politics is an extremely worrying trend in Sweden. Though there has always been some involvement, the number of comments made by people in the government holding powerful positions, targeting a specific set of people has sky-rocketed. Sweden should look around and learn from other countries where religion in politics has only leads to chaos and a very divisive society.

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Jomshof was called into questioning last week where he was formally informed that he was suspected of agitation against an ethnic or national group (hets mot folkgrupp), a hate crime.
The investigation related to posts by other accounts which Jomshof republished on the X platform on May 28th.
One depicts a Muslim refugee family who is welcomed in a house which symbolises Europe, only to set the house on fire and exclaim “Islam first”. The other shows a Pakistani refugee who shouts for help and is rescued by a boat which symbolises England. He then attacks the family who helped him with a bat labelled “rape jihad”, according to the TT newswire.
Jomshof described the posts as “legitimate contributions to the political debate”.
“[He] has been interrogated, he’s explained how he interpreted the images and what his aim was. It was to show that some migrants and immigrants commit crimes,” prosecutor Joakim Zander told tabloid Aftonbladet on Wednesday after he dropped the case, adding that he does not believe Jomshof’s posts qualify as hets mot folkgrupp.
Jomshof stepped down from his position as chair of the justice committee while he was under investigation, and will now return to his post.
“As a politician I will continue to form public opinion and create debate, especially when it comes to pointing out the consequences of mass migration to our country,” Jomshof told Aftonbladet.
Opposition parties the Social Democrats and the Greens have criticised Jomshof returning to his post, with Social Democrat justice spokesperson Ardalan Shekarabi describing him as “unsuitable”.
“He’s using this platform to spread hate and divide our society,” Shekarabi told the TT newswire. “That’s absolutely unsuitable for a chairman like this.”
“For us the fact that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the other parties in parliament support him is a huge question mark.”
Kristersson told TT when asked for his views on Jomshof returning to the post that he has “no opinion”.
“It would be presumptuous for the government or the prime minister to have views on various members of parliament,” he added.
It’s not the first time Jomshof has come under fire for his comments on Islam.
Last year, he called the Prophet Mohammed a “warlord, mass murderer, slave trader and bandit” in another post on X, sparking calls from the opposition for his resignation.