○On a September night when summer was about to turn into autumn, Soha Saad was up late studying and falling asleep on the couch. The 24-year-old, who lived with her parents and siblings in a quiet village near the Swedish university city of Uppsala, had just graduated as a teacher, a profession she was passionate about, and had big dreams for the future. Ta.
But early in the morning, all that hope disappeared. The explosion destroyed their home, removing windows and walls, and ending Soha’s life.
It is believed that she was not the intended target of the September bombings, although reports at the time suggested she may have been a neighbor with ties to gang members, but what is gang violence? He was an innocent victim who had nothing to do with it.
Soha’s family was devastated by her loss and their home was destroyed. “Her father just wanted to jump in her grave,” said Dr. Veronique Simon, who taught her in Uppsala and attended her funeral. observer. “She was young, beautiful, vibrant, intelligent, ambitious, an excellent student and kind to other students.”
Five months later, her devastated family is understood to be still living in temporary accommodation with little help, awaiting justice.
The explosion was one of hundreds of cases in which deadly explosives were planted in residential areas across Sweden over the past three years. According to police statistics, there were a total of 107 explosions and 13 attempted explosions in 2020. In 2023, that number jumped to 149 explosions and 62 attempted explosions.
After a wave of explosions and gang violence in the fall, Sweden is in the midst of another surge in violence, with four explosions at addresses across the country in the past nine days alone, including It also includes Stockholm and the city of Gävle in the north of the capital. Many of the recent outbursts are believed to have been directed to addresses associated with the notorious criminal network Foxtrot.
In recent years, Sweden has been embroiled in an escalation of gang warfare, with shootings and explosions, mainly fueled by drug trafficking involving firearms and bombs. September was Sweden’s deadliest month since 2016 with mass shootings killing 11 people, and 2023 marks the deadliest month for bombings in a year to date.
The Moderates-led coalition government, backed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, has promised measures such as sending more young people to prison and giving police more powers to search people and vehicles. However, with more and more young people becoming involved in crime and being turned into “child soldiers”, there is little sign that the violence will stop.
Police said the explosions typically target members of rival gangs and their families and often contain dynamite or gunpowder-based substances. Grenades were also used.
In most countries, tracking down a potential victim’s address can be a painstaking process. But this is not the case in Sweden. In Sweden, he can find out the address and personal information of almost anyone with just one Google search. Experts say criminals are greatly helped by a 248-year-old law that forms part of Sweden’s constitution.
Freedom of the Press Act of 1776 (trikefrihetzferordningen) – a revered feature of Swedish society where everyone has access to official records – became the world’s first law regulating the right to free speech. Documents are protected as follows: World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
According to the Swedish Institute for Human Rights (SIHR), “public access to information is a fundamental principle of Sweden’s form of government.” “One of the basic laws, the Freedom of the Press Law, includes provisions regarding the right to access official documents. According to this regulation, all documents available at the authorities are, in principle, available to the public. ”
As a result, the Swedish Tax Agency’s national registration data will be accessible to everyone. Traditionally, a phone call was required, but in the digital world, online services such as Eniro, Hitta, and Mrkoll allow almost anyone to know their age, address, floor, and move-in date in less than a second. can do.
If an individual requests to be removed from these sites, some will only do so for 30 days, but the information may remain on Google, and tax authorities have very high standards for protecting personal information.
Camilla Karp, who manages protected personal data at the Swedish Tax Office, said that for protection to be granted there must be a current threat against the individual and the specific person or group behind him. . Still, citizens must move to prevent their information from being published online.
“You can go in and demand it be removed.” [from websites]But as soon as it’s listed on Google, your history is there. ”
A total of 30,000 citizens are protected (Sweden has a population of 10.5 million), the majority of whom are women who have been in violent relationships. After a series of shootings and explosions last year, Karp noticed a “significant increase” in people associated with criminals seeking protection of their personal information to protect themselves from potential attacks. “People are worried and afraid.”
She freely admits that the availability of information online has made it easier for criminals to find people.
Changing the system would require changes to the constitution, she said. “We haven’t kept up with digitalisation,” she added, but that would require political change. “That is not something for the tax office to decide.” According to SIHR, this is also a human rights issue.
In October 2023, the government directed special investigators to review constitutional protections for online personal data directories, “making it more difficult for criminal networks to map people across different search services, among other things”. The aim is to strengthen data protection. Justice Minister Gunnar Stromer called the matter a “systemic threat” and the Ministry of Justice acknowledged that such information could be used to carry out shootings and explosions, but the investigation remains open until November. It is not expected to be reported.
But having people’s contact details easily available online has become part of everyday life, argues Hosni Teque-Omeirat, president and CEO of Eniro Group. His website alone generates 500 million searches a year on Swedish sites, with half the country’s population searching for addresses and phone numbers every week.
“To understand why we give our addresses so easily, you have to understand Swedish society. We live in a very open society,” he said. But, he added, “of course there are good and bad sides.”
A growing number of people have asked him to be removed from the site, but he insists it has nothing to do with the bombing and that the problem is not with online platforms like his. He has criticized government investigations aimed at restricting online services, which are constitutionally unnecessary because malicious parties seeking information can still request information from agencies such as the tax office. He said it was meaningful.
“They’re not trying to actually change an individual’s right to information, they’re trying to get people like us to make this information public,” he said. “This information will continue to be available.”
But Lena Södersten, a lawyer for the Swedish Homeowners Association, which represents 230,000 households, said removing these details from the internet would greatly reduce targeted outbursts. She is calling for an amendment to the constitution. “It’s time to change this,” she said, adding that many people no longer feel safe inside their homes.
She argues that having to call the tax office and ask for their address is much more of a deterrent than looking up someone instantly on the internet from your smartphone. She said: “We don’t want to hide all the information, but we want to make it harder for them than having it out there openly on the internet.”
