COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)– Swedish authorities implicated Iran on Tuesday of lagging numerous sms message that had been despatched out to people within the Scandinavian nation asking for revenge over the burnings of Quran, Islam’s holy book in 2023.
Officials in Stockholm asserted that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard carried out “an information violation” and managed to ship “some 15,000 text messages in Swedish” over the string of public burnings of the Quran.
Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist stated {that a} preliminary investigation, carried out by Sweden’s SAPO home safety company, confirmed that “it was the Iranian state via the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, that carried out a data breach at a Swedish company that runs a major SMS service.”
The Swedish firm was not named. There was no fast remark from Iranian authorities on the accusations from Sweden.
In August 2023, Swedish media reported that a lot of individuals in Sweden had obtained textual content messages in Swedish calling for revenge towards individuals who had been burning the Quran, Ljungqvist stated, including that the sender of the messages was “a group calling itself the Anzu team.”
Swedish broadcaster SVT revealed a photograph of a textual content message, saying that “those who desecrated the Quran must have their work covered in ashes” and calling Swedes “demons.”
The protests had been held underneath the liberty of speech act, which is protected underneath the Swedish structure. The rallies had been accepted by police.
However, the incidents left Sweden torn between its dedication to free speech and its respect for non secular minorities.
In a separate assertion, SAPO’s operational supervisor Fredrik Hallström stated the textual content messages ‘ intent was to additionally ” repaint the photograph of Sweden as an Islamophobic nation and develop division in tradition.”
He implicated “international powers” of looking for to “exploit vulnerabilities” and stated they had been ” at the moment performing a rising variety of boldy, and that is an development that’s almost certainly to accentuate.” He didn’t name any sort of particulars nation.
Meanwhile, Sweden’ justice preacher, Gunnar Str ömmer, knowledgeable Swedish info firm TT “that a state actor, in this case Iran, according to (SAPO’s) assessment is behind an action that aims to destabilize Sweden or increase polarization in our country is of course very serious.”
There is not any laws in Sweden notably limiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or numerous different non secular messages. Like a number of Western nations, Sweden doesn’t have any sort of blasphemy laws.
“Since the actors are performing for a international energy, on this case Iran, we make the evaluation that the circumstances for prosecution overseas or extradition to Sweden are missing for the individuals suspected of being behind the breach, “Ljungqvist stated.
Ljungqvist who’s with the Sweden’s prime prosecution authority stated though the preliminary investigation has been closed, it “does not mean that the suspected hackers have been completely written off” which the probe might be resumed.
Sweden’s residential safety firm in May accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to focus on Israeli or Jewish passions within the Scandinavian nation.
Jan M. Olsen, The Associated Press
