The Muslim Brotherhood* and other Islamist organisations 'work purposefully' to infiltrate Swedish party politics, Sameh Egyptson, a researcher of interreligious relations at Lund University, wrote in an opinion piece published by the Expressen tabloid daily.
The Islamists negotiated with Swedish political parties about voting in the 1980s, Egyptson claimed, citing a little-known report in Arabic by the Swedish Muslim Council (SMR) from 2001. The report, he claimed, highlighted collaboration between SMR and IFIS to 'cooperate with Swedish parties to educate political cadres and fight for Muslim rights through these parties'.
Egyptson stressed that 'infiltration' is not his personal interpretation, but the exact word used by former chairman of the Swedish Islamic Federation (IFIS) and current head of Stockholm Mosque, Mahmoud Khalfi, in an article for the Tunis News web magazine.
Egyptson emphasised that the Arabic word 'ikhtraq' or 'infiltration' was used to describe former Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan's career in the Green Party and Abdirizak Waberi's career in the Moderate party. Turkish-born Kaplan rose in the ranks after becoming chairman of the Young Swedish Muslims, whereas Somali-born Waberi became an MP and defence committee member after chairing IFIS. Khalfi also lauded the Swedish parties, the royal house and the Swedish state for 'normalising' IFIS, which, he claimed, belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Kaplan later resigned following revelations about his involvement in the Islamist movement Milli Görus and other Turkish nationalist organisations, such as the Grey Wolves, in effect disappearing from Swedish politics. Waberi, by contrast, continues as vice president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE), despite losing the Moderates' confidence over his stance on polygamy and Islam.
Since then, Egyptson, noted, various disclosures involving Islamist politicians have followed each other. Among others, he referred to the Centre Party being forced to amend its candidate list prior to the September election due to the Islamist views of one of its candidates, and a Green Party member attempting to sell a Muslim congregation's votes to the Moderates in exchange for a construction permit for a mosque.
'For us who come from the Middle East this is not a surprise. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood managed to infiltrate two of the three parties inheriting [Gamal Abdel] Nasser's Socialist Party, both the Liberals and the Social Democrats. Both parties disappeared from the political map', Egyptson claimed, stressing that the spate of recent revelations gave rise to accusations that Swedish parties prioritise votes ahead of the basic values. Egyptson also ventured this hurt Muslims who don't agree with Islamists.
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'It is important that Swedish parties now investigate the infiltration of Islamists and return to their ideological foundations. For the parties keep losing confidence with each new disclosure. It's time to investigate the matter now, before it's late', Egyptson concluded.
Egyptson is a Egyptian-born Swedish researcher with roots in a Coptic family from Cairo. He is the author of 'Holy White Lies', which described the Muslim Brotherhood's theology, strategy, and infiltration in Sweden.
Since its founding in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has fledged into a pan-Islamic organisation with over a million worldwide members in 70 countries. It is regarded as a terrorist organisation in many countries, including Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In Sweden, the MB has been active since the late 1970s.
* The Muslim Brotherhood (sometimes referred to as the Society of the Muslim Brothers) is an extremist organisation banned in Russia.
