Sweden to deport Palestinian over Gothenburg synagogue attack
Sweden's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the deportation of a Palestinian man convicted of involvement in a 2017 Molotov cocktail attack on a Gothenburg synagogue.
The court overturned an appeals court decision, which halted a previous district court ruling to deport the 23-year-old man.
In its decision, seen by The Local, the Supreme Court wrote that the "Migration Agency has in this case deemed that there is no support for the argument that there is a concrete and individual threat against the man if he is returned to Gaza".
Sweden recognized the state of Palestine – consisting of the Gaza strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem – in 2014.
The man is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for his 2017 involvement in an attack on a synagogue in Gothenburg, and will be deported after his jail term has ended. Along with two others, he was convicted of committing hate crimes targeting the Jewish community after hurling Molotov cocktails at the synagogue just days after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
The trio was accused of carrying out the attack "together with several unknown persons". In total, some 12 masked men were seen on video footage apparently participating in the attack; police made five initial arrests but later released two men due to lack of evidence.
There was no serious material damage made to the building and no one was injured in the attack, but around 20 people participating in a youth celebration at the synagogue briefly took shelter in a cellar.
LONG READ: Breaking down Sweden's anti-Semitism problem
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The court overturned an appeals court decision, which halted a previous district court ruling to deport the 23-year-old man.
In its decision, seen by The Local, the Supreme Court wrote that the "Migration Agency has in this case deemed that there is no support for the argument that there is a concrete and individual threat against the man if he is returned to Gaza".
Sweden recognized the state of Palestine – consisting of the Gaza strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem – in 2014.
The man is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for his 2017 involvement in an attack on a synagogue in Gothenburg, and will be deported after his jail term has ended. Along with two others, he was convicted of committing hate crimes targeting the Jewish community after hurling Molotov cocktails at the synagogue just days after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
The trio was accused of carrying out the attack "together with several unknown persons". In total, some 12 masked men were seen on video footage apparently participating in the attack; police made five initial arrests but later released two men due to lack of evidence.
There was no serious material damage made to the building and no one was injured in the attack, but around 20 people participating in a youth celebration at the synagogue briefly took shelter in a cellar.
LONG READ: Breaking down Sweden's anti-Semitism problem
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