Swedes tighten terror laws, likely to help NATO membership
Police cordon off the area outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, on Jan 21, 2023.(Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
STOCKHOLM: Lawmakers in Sweden passed legislation on Wednesday (May 3) that tightens the country's anti-terrorism laws, a move expected to help persuade Türkiye to approve the Nordic nation's request to join NATO.
The revision includes a prison term of up to four years for individuals convicted of participating in an extremist organisation in a way that is intended to promote, strengthen or support the group. However, the penalty can be increased to eight years when a crime is deemed serious.
The legislation allows for someone identified as a leader of a terror organization to receive a life sentence, which in Sweden generally means a minimum of 20-25 years.
The bill, which passed on a 268-34 vote with 47 lawmakers absent, made it illegal to finance, recruit for or publicly encourage a terrorist organisation, as well as travelling abroad with the intention of joining such a group.
The revisions are set to take effect Jun 1.
Türkiye has accused Sweden of failing to take concrete steps to crack down on groups that Ankara lists as terror organisations or considers existential threats, including Kurdish groups.
Sweden’s center-right government has taken a harder line not just toward Türkiye's outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, but also toward the Syrian Kurdish militia group YPG and its political branch, PYD. Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian arm of the PKK, which for decades has waged an insurgency within Turkey.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström has said there were close links between the PKK and the YPG/PYD, and Sweden would therefore “keep a distance” from Syrian groups in order not to harm relations with Türkiye.
Sweden and Finland jointly applied for NATO membership in May 2022, abandoning decades of non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Finland became the Western military alliance's 31st member nation in April, opposition from Türkiye and Hungary stalled the Swedish bid. NATO requires unanimous approval to admit new members.
