Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STOCKHOLM108
2009-02-18 07:00:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Stockholm
Cable title:
SWEDISH COURT ACQUITS LOCAL AL-AQSA HEAD ON
how-toVZCZCXRO5044 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHSM #0108 0490700 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 180700Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4133 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0313 RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000108
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EEB/ESC/TFS (LRECHT) AND EUR (BROCKWELL)
TFFC (KLEAHY,MROSEN, ALARSON)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN PTER ETTC PHUM EAID SW
SUBJECT: SWEDISH COURT ACQUITS LOCAL AL-AQSA HEAD ON
TERRORIST FINANCING CHARGES
REF: A. STATE 5834
B. STOCKHOLM 85
UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000108
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EEB/ESC/TFS (LRECHT) AND EUR (BROCKWELL)
TFFC (KLEAHY,MROSEN, ALARSON)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN PTER ETTC PHUM EAID SW
SUBJECT: SWEDISH COURT ACQUITS LOCAL AL-AQSA HEAD ON
TERRORIST FINANCING CHARGES
REF: A. STATE 5834
B. STOCKHOLM 85
1. (U) On February 17, a Swedish court in the southern city
of Malmo acquitted Khalid al-Yousef, head of the
Stockholm-based al-Aqsa Spannmal Foundation, on charges of
violating terrorist financing laws and violating sanctions
laws. Al-Yousef had been accused of collecting nearly
$500,000 through the charitable foundation and funneling the
money to various organizations with ties to Hamas. The court
characterized the websites, newspaper articles and television
reports presented by Chief Prosecutor Agneta Hilding
Qvarnstrom as "very low value evidence."
2. (U) The Malmo District Court added that Hamas has such
wide-ranging support, it is quite possible that Hamas
sympathizers and activists belong to some of these
organizations in the area, but that does not automatically
mean that the organization in question is part of Hamas. The
Malmo District Court also stated that Hamas and Israel have a
relationship to one another "akin a state of war," and that
the fact that Israel has declared illegal a number of the
organizations to which al-Yousef sent money is "of little
importance to the court."
3. (SBU) Comment: The Malmo court's terse comment and the
fact that it ignored the freezing of the foundation's assets
by the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden itself in 2006 in reaching
its verdict provides insight into the degree of evidence
required in Sweden to convict an individual on these charges.
Malmo has a high concentration of Muslim immigrants and was
the scene of recent riots sparked by a landlord refusing to
renew a rental contract for a mosque located in a cellar.
SILVERMAN
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EEB/ESC/TFS (LRECHT) AND EUR (BROCKWELL)
TFFC (KLEAHY,MROSEN, ALARSON)
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIN PTER ETTC PHUM EAID SW
SUBJECT: SWEDISH COURT ACQUITS LOCAL AL-AQSA HEAD ON
TERRORIST FINANCING CHARGES
REF: A. STATE 5834
B. STOCKHOLM 85
1. (U) On February 17, a Swedish court in the southern city
of Malmo acquitted Khalid al-Yousef, head of the
Stockholm-based al-Aqsa Spannmal Foundation, on charges of
violating terrorist financing laws and violating sanctions
laws. Al-Yousef had been accused of collecting nearly
$500,000 through the charitable foundation and funneling the
money to various organizations with ties to Hamas. The court
characterized the websites, newspaper articles and television
reports presented by Chief Prosecutor Agneta Hilding
Qvarnstrom as "very low value evidence."
2. (U) The Malmo District Court added that Hamas has such
wide-ranging support, it is quite possible that Hamas
sympathizers and activists belong to some of these
organizations in the area, but that does not automatically
mean that the organization in question is part of Hamas. The
Malmo District Court also stated that Hamas and Israel have a
relationship to one another "akin a state of war," and that
the fact that Israel has declared illegal a number of the
organizations to which al-Yousef sent money is "of little
importance to the court."
3. (SBU) Comment: The Malmo court's terse comment and the
fact that it ignored the freezing of the foundation's assets
by the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden itself in 2006 in reaching
its verdict provides insight into the degree of evidence
required in Sweden to convict an individual on these charges.
Malmo has a high concentration of Muslim immigrants and was
the scene of recent riots sparked by a landlord refusing to
renew a rental contract for a mosque located in a cellar.
SILVERMAN