Sweden says Iran used text messages to incite Quran-burning protests

Swedish authorities have accused Iran of being responsible for text messages sent to thousands of people calling for revenge over the burnings of Islam’s holy book.

Officials in Stockholm claimed that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard carried out “a data breach” and managed to send “some 15,000 text messages in Swedish” over the string of public burnings of the Quran, which sparked major protests in Sweden and beyond.

Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said that a preliminary investigation by Sweden’s domestic security agency, SAPO, showed 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 company involved was not named. There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities on the allegations.

Up in flames

Ljungqvist recalled that in August 2023, Swedish media reported that a large number of people in the country had received text messages in Swedish calling for revenge against people who were burning the Quran.

He explained that the sender of the messages was “a group calling itself the Anzu team”.

Swedish broadcaster SVT published a photo of a text message saying that “those who desecrated the Quran must have their work covered in ashes” and calling Swedes “demons”.

The protests were held under the freedom of speech act, which is protected under the Swedish constitution. The police approved the rallies.

However, the incidents left Sweden torn between its commitment to free speech and its respect for religious minorities, and several people were detained as the protests continued to stir outrage from conservative Muslims worldwide.

In May, SAPO accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as proxies to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in the Scandinavian country.

Destabilisation and polarisation

In a separate statement, SAPO’s operational manager Fredrik Hallström said the text messages’ intent was to also “paint the image of Sweden as an Islamophobic country and create division in society.”

He accused “foreign powers” of seeking to “exploit vulnerabilities” and said they were “now acting more and more aggressively, and this is a development that is likely to escalate.” He did not name any specific country.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told Swedish news agency TT “that a state actor, in this case Iran, according to (SAPO’s) assessment, is behind an action that aims to destabilise Sweden or increase polarisation in our country is of course very serious”.

Like many Western countries, Sweden doesn’t have any blasphemy laws, and there is no law specifically prohibiting the burning or desecration of the Quran or other religious texts.

“Since the actors are acting for a foreign power, in this case Iran, we make the assessment that the conditions for prosecution abroad or extradition to Sweden are lacking for the persons suspected of being behind the breach,” Ljungqvist said.

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While the end of the preliminary investigation “does not mean that the suspected hackers have been completely written off” the probe could yet be reopened, he explained.

Additional sources • AP