Response to interpellation 2025/26:72 on mosques' collusion with foreign powers
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M emphasizes that the government safeguards an open society and that the Security Service assesses Iran, Russia, and China as the greatest security threats 1. M argues that a new law on state subsidies to religious communities with clearer democratic conditions has entered into force 1 2 and that an investigator proposes rules against foreign financing 1 2. M highlights that measures in the Tidö Agreement are being implemented to safeguard the free society 3, that authorities review threats 3 4 and that the Islamist threat is one of the greatest threats to Sweden's internal security 4. SD argues that mosques are politically controlled by countries such as Iran, Qatar, and Turkey 5. SD considers that Swedish authorities have been naive 6 7 5 and demands total transparency regarding financing 8. SD argues that mosques with links to foreign powers or Islamist organizations are the rule rather than the exception 6 9 and demands that the public be informed about their agendas 5 9.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Nima Gholam Ali Pour has asked me how I intend to work to increase vigilance regarding mosques which, according to what is stated in the interpellation, conduct intelligence activities for foreign powers. He has also asked me whether I consider that the mosques' interactions with regimes in the Middle East and Islamist organizations risk undermining Sweden's security, and what measures I intend to take in light of the events at Imam Ali Islamic Center.
I want, as a starting point, to state that the government safeguards an open and democratic society where fundamental freedoms and rights are respected. We will never accept that this is exploited to conduct activities that threaten security against Sweden.
The Swedish Security Service assesses that Iran, together with Russia and China, constitutes the greatest security threats to Sweden. Iran has also conducted security-threatening activities in and against Sweden for several years. I have full confidence in how the Swedish Security Service and other relevant authorities work with these issues.
In January this year, the Swedish Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen) assessed that the Shia Muslim center in Järfälla had been used as a platform for Iranian intelligence activities in Sweden and against individuals in the Iranian diaspora in Sweden. Based on the Swedish Security Service's statement, the Agency for Support to Religious Communities (Myndigheten för stöd till trossamfund) revoked a portion of the funds that the Shia community had been granted in state subsidies.
The new law on state grants to religious communities entered into force on 1 January this year. The law contains a new and clearer democratic condition for a religious community to be granted state grants or state fee assistance. Such state support may not be provided if a religious community or a representative of the community exercises violence, discriminates against groups of persons, promotes such actions, or opposes the democratic system of government. The new rules enable better control but also requirements for repayment in the event of violations of the regulatory framework.
Since March 2025, there has also been a special support function within the Center against violent extremism at the Crime Prevention Council. The support function shall assist authorities and others who distribute public funds or otherwise review publicly funded activities with in-depth reviews of activities that may be assumed to have links to violent extremism. The purpose is to prevent public funds from being distributed to violent extremism and other anti-democratic environments.
It is also important to review the possibilities to counter the use and financing of religious communities and other activities for anti-democratic, extremist, or radicalizing purposes. Therefore, the government in May this year gave an investigator a mandate to consider and propose rules that prohibit or otherwise counter foreign financing of religious communities and other activities in Sweden with links to Islamism, extremism, and other anti-democratic interests. The purpose is to prevent extremist and other anti-democratic environments in Sweden from being strengthened through such financial support from other states, foreign organizations, or financiers. The mandate shall be reported by May 29 next year at the latest.
The Government takes all issues concerning Sweden's security very seriously and is in close dialogue with the relevant authorities in the area, not least the Swedish Security Service. We follow the developments closely and are continuously considering new measures.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour (SD)
Madam Speaker! For a long time, there have been reports about mosques in Sweden that in one way or another have links to foreign powers or to Islamist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood. It could be about the mosque being financed by a dictatorship in the Middle East, about administrative collaborations with a regime in the Middle East, or about ideological links to such regimes or Islamist organizations.
I believe that the media and politicians in Sweden have long thought that such mosques were exceptions. But when one looks back at the scandals surrounding mosques in Sweden in recent years, one sees that such connections instead seem to be the rule. The exception seems to be those mosques that do not have such connections to Islamist regimes or organizations. Often, such mosques are boycotted by other mosques in Sweden.
For several years, quite a few people, including myself, warned about the collusion that the Imam Ali Islamic Center mosque had with the regime in Iran. That the imam at Imam Ali Islamic Center had close links to the regime in Iran had been known and reported for a long time, but it was only this year that the imam was deported and it was established that the mosque conducts intelligence activities together with the regime of the mullahs.
Erdogan's regime has influence over many mosques in Sweden and maps out opponents. The Turkish Islamist and antisemitic organization Millî Görüş is now planning to build Northern Europe's largest mosque in Skärholmen, and for some reason, no one is stopping them.
These are regimes and organizations that conduct antagonistic activities against the Western world. In several cases, it has already been proven that intelligence activities are conducted from several mosques. There is evidence that radicalization and recruitment to jihadist environments occurs in mosques.
It is also naive to believe that countries such as Turkey, Iran and Qatar, which support jihadists in many other countries, would support mosques in Sweden out of pure goodwill. From the very beginning, there should have been a discussion about why these countries want to support mosque activities in Sweden at all.
In all these three countries, there are state administrations that control all mosques. Why would they support independent mosque activities in Sweden when they do not do so in their own countries?
There is no doubt that these countries, and also countries such as Saudi Arabia, have financed and cooperated with mosques in Sweden to gain political influence but also to influence Muslims in Sweden. Given the values that characterize the regimes in these countries and the political movements they support, it is a major problem that these countries gain influence over Sweden's Muslims.
That there are mosques in Sweden is a constant influence campaign considering who finances and has influence over the mosques. The question is whether the Minister for Justice sees and recognizes this problem.
Sara Gille (SD)
Madam Speaker! I want to start by thanking the member for a very pressing interpellations and also thank the Minister for Justice for the answer. But I must say it as it is: The answer we received reflects the Swedish naivety that has allowed this problem to grow for so many years.
The Swedish Security Service has stated in its public annual report that Iran, Russia, and China constitute the three greatest security threats to Sweden. Säpo has also described how Iran conducts intelligence activities against Iranian exiles in Europe and how religious and cultural meeting places are used to identify, monitor, and influence oppositionists.
Nevertheless, Iran has been able to use a Swedish mosque, Imam Ali Islamic Center in Järfälla, the largest Shia Muslim congregation in the Nordics, as a platform for intelligence activities. This is Säpo's own assessment. This mosque has thousands of members and great symbolic weight. When such an institution is used by a foreign power, it is no longer about individuals – it is about Sweden's security.
When religion is used to map out opposition and influence public opinion, it is no longer freedom of religion but a threat to our free society.
Madam Speaker! Already in 2017, Dagens Nyheter revealed that imams in at least nine Swedish mosques reported to the Turkish state's religious authority Diyanet about who was regime-critical in Sweden. That same year, the Great Mosque in Malmö was inaugurated, with 30 million kronor in funding from Qatar and with Qatar's deputy minister for religious affairs on site.
These are three different regimes with a common pattern: to acquire political influence through religion, create loyalties, and control diasporas.
Madam Speaker! This is political Islam being used as a tool for state influence. It is a slow but clear Islamization, where foreign powers exploit our openness to advance their positions.
The Swedish Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen) has warned that regimes such as Iran and Turkey systematically work with diaspora organizations to influence the Swedish public debate. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) has pointed out in several reports that religious environments can be exploited as channels for radicalization, propaganda, and information influence. And Brå has highlighted the need for authorities to coordinate their reviews when it concerns religious actors with possible links to extremism.
Despite these warning signs, Swedish authorities have continued to pay out grants to organizations that in practice promote values that conflict with equality, freedom of speech, and democracy.
But it is not too late. The government first in May 2025 commissioned an investigator to review a ban on foreign funding of religious communities with links to religious extremism or foreign powers. It is an important step, but there is much left to do.
We can respect faith, but we can never accept that faith is used as a political tool against our own country.
Madam Speaker! Swedish democracy must be protected even against those who hide behind prayer mats and minarets.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Let me thank you for the opportunity to discuss these important issues today. I would just like to ask initially if I heard correctly: Does Sara Gille mean that the answer would in some way reflect my or the government's naivety in these issues? It is important to have it clarified that it is not in that way. On the contrary, this answer is based on all the sources that Sara Gille also refers to, that is to say, the Security Service's assessments, the Crime Prevention Council's assessments, and other important authorities' assessments. These are assessments that in a clear way point out a number of countries as the real threats to Sweden's internal security – Russia, China, and Iran, which of course are particularly relevant regarding the issues we are discussing here today.
I note that under this government's watch, several very significant steps have been taken to address this issue. This includes, among other things, a new law on state grants to religious communities which entered into force on January 1 of this year. There is a new and very clear democratic condition, which exists precisely so that religious communities can only be granted state grants or fee assistance on the condition that they meet the high democratic requirements set out in that legislation.
Regarding the Shia center in Järfälla that has been referred to here, I note that the Swedish Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen) made the assessment in January this year that it had been used as a platform for Iranian intelligence activities. It was against that background that the Swedish Security Service issued its statement, with the consequence that some additional public funds for that activity would not be realized.
I also want to remind that the government in May this year gave an important assignment to an investigator. It concerns precisely reviewing this and proposing rules aimed at foreign financing of religious communities and other similar activities in Sweden. It was an explicit request to prohibit or otherwise counter such financing precisely for the purpose of safeguarding our free and open society, our democracy, and our citizens' safety and security.
Without going into more detail on individual cases, I can state that the issues raised in the interpellation and in other posts here unequivocally deserve a very serious discussion in our society. I also note that the authorities tasked with safeguarding our internal security, not least the Swedish Security Service, are very active in this area.
I note that we have now had new legislation put in place, which is essential to counter these types of forces and safeguard our free and open society. More is in the works regarding foreign funding. By this, I mean measures that reflect the seriousness of the issues raised in today's discussion.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour (SD)
Madam Speaker! What I am saying here today is nothing new. Of course, Säpo has had its eyes on these mosques, which actually function as intelligence centers for foreign powers. Several reports from Swedish authorities regarding such mosques have been published over the years.
But I regret that the political narrative has not described the problem picture. That is why I raise the question of vigilance. What is required here is that the general public also understands that almost all mosques in some way have links to foreign powers or Islamist organizations and that they are therefore also influenced by these actors.
When one is not clear from a political standpoint regarding these mosques, the result is that these mosques can influence Swedish society through contacts with a naive civil society or a naive municipal administration. Järfälla municipality had a cooperation with Imam Ali Islamic Center for several years because one was not vigilant.
It is not only the municipality that lacks vigilance. The Agency for Support to Religious Communities allocated 3.1 million kronor to the Islamic Shia Communities in Sweden last year. It is an umbrella organization with organizational links to the Imam Ali Islamic Center. If one were to look closer at this, it would not surprise me if one were to find that it is the same organization.
It is obvious here that vigilance is needed. We cannot say that there is a mosque conducting intelligence activities in cooperation with the Iranian regime and at the same time pay out tax funds to organizations that have close cooperation with that mosque.
Here, the Ministry of Justice and the Minister for Justice have a responsibility to ensure that information is communicated to the public through the appropriate authority regarding what the agenda of these mosques actually is.
Let's be honest! When that information is not communicated, the mosques succeed in infiltrating civil society and, through civil society, influencing politics. They succeed in obtaining tax funds from municipalities, regions, or the state to finance their activities. Given what purposes they have, it is not good for Sweden that their influence increases.
That is why the Minister for Justice, through clarity regarding which actors stand behind these mosques, must increase the public's vigilance. These are not religious temples. This is not the Muslims' version of a church. There is a political governance of the mosques. Countries such as Iran, Qatar, and Turkey, and organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, use almost all of these mosques to spread certain values that make society unstable. These are values that challenge the Swedish values that are intended to create social cohesion.
I mean that the Minister for Justice must be more open about this so that these mosques do not gain more influence in Sweden. It is fundamentally about protecting Sweden. Our open society must not become a weakness that is exploited by foreign powers or ideological movements that want to reshape our country from within.
To see and recognize the threat is not to criminalize a religion. To see the threat is to defend the freedom for all who live in Sweden.
Sara Gille (SD)
Madam Speaker! What we see in Sweden today is a deliberate strategy from foreign powers that use religion as a tool for power and influence.
Iran, Turkey and Qatar have three completely different regimes but the same goal of using religion to govern loyalty and influence social development in a religious direction.
Madam Speaker! There is an ongoing Islamization of our country. While governments and authorities have been afraid to speak plainly about Islamism, extremist forces have been allowed to grow in silence.
The Government refers to the new Act on State Grants and to the ongoing investigation on foreign funding, which is to be reported in 2026. But, Madam Speaker, for every year that passes, new structures, new loyalties, and new dependencies are cemented. We see how public funds still risk going to communities that promote segregation, gender separatism, and religious obedience over Swedish law.
The Sweden Democrats demand total transparency regarding the funding of religious communities, a ban on foreign donations, and a clear system to be able to withdraw support from actors who violate democratic conditions.
Our loyalty does not lie with religious leaders or foreign regimes. Our loyalty lies with the Swedish people and the free and secular Sweden. Sweden shall never be governed by religious interests – whether from Tehran, Ankara, or Doha.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I note that all the points raised, not least in the latest addition, are such things that are now being implemented in close cooperation between the government and the Sweden Democrats. They are parts of the Tidö Agreement. Even the exact scheduling is, so to speak, negotiated with the Sweden Democrats. In that sense, one can say that nothing new emerges in that regard.
I will also say that all of this aims to safeguard our free and open society. A fundamental thing in a free and open society is, of course, the right to freely practice one's religion, individually and together with others. It is a right that naturally belongs to everyone, regardless of whether one is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or something else. This fundamental right will, of course, always be a completely central matter to defend. In fact, it is an essential part of what we mean when we say that we shall stand up for the free and open society.
This is in no way in opposition to the vigilance that is also being requested in this discussion. It is not primarily, so to speak, the government that is to review individual religious communities. It is instead our authorities that shall do so. The Swedish Security Service carries out such very active work. The annual reporting that has been referred to is an expression of precisely such information provision to the citizens. It describes in a very unvarnished way what different extremist threats against our free and open society look like, including not least the Islamist extremist threat.
It is also the case that the legislation we are talking about is intended to achieve precisely what is being requested, namely that if an audit leads to the conclusion that the funding is, for example, used to undermine our free society, that is to say it does not live up to high standards for democratic compliance, these grants shall be withdrawn and no new grants shall be paid out.
I think it is extremely important that we are now in full swing with establishing legislation aimed at foreign financing, precisely to cut off the possibilities for actors outside Sweden's borders to use various institutions as fronts for their interests against Sweden.
For my part, it is very crucial that the struggle for a free and open society both includes the defense of each person's right to practice their religion individually or together with others and that in every instance ensures that religious communities live up to high democratic requirements. If they do not, they shall be scrutinized, exposed, and deprived of their public funds and more.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour (SD)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for Justice for the debate.
I mean that almost all mosques in Sweden have some connection to a foreign power or to an Islamist organization. There are one or two exceptions, but almost all mosques have such a connection. It is very sad, but that is how it is. If the Minister for Justice considers otherwise, he may say so and preferably refer to some evidence.
Just the mosques' connection to foreign powers and Islamist organizations is something that the government should create vigilance around. There is no doubt that rich and powerful countries in the Middle East support jihadist movements all around the world. It has also been shown that they have used mosques in Sweden and in other parts of the Western world to carry out this activity.
I mean that the government should work to inform the public about how Islamists use mosques in Sweden. Sweden has been slow to tell that organized Islam in Sweden is often controlled through state institutions in the Middle East. These countries have an agenda, and they will use these mosques to drive their agenda.
I believe that the Minister for Justice is well aware of this, but more people must become aware that such a threat exists. There are many municipalities and organizations within civil society that today cooperate with mosques that have these connections. No one has told them that almost all mosques have some connection to foreign powers or Islamist organizations.
Therefore, I urge the Minister for Justice to act with clarity, to speak plainly, and to ensure that Swedish authorities are no longer used as tools for forces that oppose our society.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the opportunity to discuss these important issues here tonight!
I state once again how extremely central it is that we have a great vigilance against various threats to our internal security, regardless of whether we are talking about terrorism, violent extremism, or for that matter, organized crime or connections between different threats of that kind.
When it comes to the extremist threat, there is no doubt that it also comes from different directions. The Islamist threat, the violent Islamism, undoubtedly belongs there, and seen over the recent years, it is one of the greatest threats to Sweden's internal security. I also want to say that it is reflected in the government's work in this area, both regarding legislation and our agency governance, and it reflects the agencies' work.
I note, as I have said, that the Swedish Security Service has been very active in relation to some of the concrete cases that we have discussed here tonight, and based on the reviews and the statements that have come from the Swedish Security Service, contributions have also been drawn in.
I also note that we now have a democratic condition in place which ensures that no organizations, whether they are religious communities or other types of organizations, that conduct activities in conflict with basic requirements for democracy shall receive, for example, public funding in Sweden. I also note that we now have legislative work underway that specifically targets improper foreign influence on and improper foreign funding of religious communities in Sweden.
All of this is an expression of the importance of manifesting a vigilance. None of this is an expression of anyone wanting to sweep real problems under the rug – on the contrary. All of this we do in order to safeguard the free, open society and the safety and security for citizens in Sweden.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.