European Observatory to Combat Radicalization – EOCR

Former jihadists found working in Swedish schools

euractiv – According to an investigation, leisure centres, preschools, and social services are among the places where former ISIS jihadists are now working, prompting Liberal Education Minister Lotta Edholm to call Sweden’s policy on the return and control of former Swedish Islamist fighters “naive”.Of 83 people identified as having returned to Sweden from Islamic State-controlled territory, 21 are now working with children, young people and the vulnerable, according to an investigation led by Swedish media Expressen.

In total, 24 of these ex-ISIS fighters have found work with public employers despite several warnings from the security services that so-called returnees can contribute to radicalisation and recruitment in Sweden.These are people who have both fought for ISIS and lived in ISIS-controlled areas.These revelations were met with a strong reaction from Education Minister Lotta Edholm of the Liberal Party (Renew Europe).

“It is completely unacceptable that people who are ISIS terrorists work in Swedish schools, leisure centres and the like. This should not be allowed to happen,” she told the press, adding that Swedish society has been too naive.In several cases, ISIS returnees have been hired shortly after returning from Syria, where, in many cases, they had spent several years within the terrorist sect.According to Edholm, employers in the school system, in particular, should do more to check the background of their employees.

“It is the employer’s responsibility, for example, to take references and check what a person has done before employment. In these cases, this has clearly failed,” she said.However, she also highlighted a glaring lack of communication between the security service agencies (Säpo, Säkerhetspolisen ) and other public administrations.“The authorities need to work together. We are now looking at how we can break down the secrecy between agencies so that the police, social services and schools can talk to each other without secrecy getting in the way,” she complained.

“The information about these people is obviously held by the Säpo. It is clear that this information must somehow reach the schools,” Edholm said.In a case reported in the Swedish press earlier this year, an ISIS returnee was convicted under the new so-called Travel Act, which prohibits people from travelling to a terrorist state like ISIS. Despite this, he was able to become a substitute youth worker in Gothenburg three months after serving his sentence because this particular offence was not recorded in his criminal record.

“The school system has to realise that we are in a different situation today. You have to get proper references when you hire people, even for people who may only be hired for a substitute job.”, she concluded.An investigation into the matter has been announced.

European Observatory to Combat Radicalization – EOCR