Press Release
Secular Disinformation Campaign by Politicians and Media
Buries Freedom of Speech

In recent weeks, a large number of people, parents and families have expressed their dislike with the forced removal of children by social services. Hundreds of people have protested, videos have spread across the web, social services' forced child abduction has become global news. Politicians, authorities and media are calling these events an Islamist disinformation campaign to malign Sweden. Even the municipality of Stockholm cancelled Hizb ut Tahrir / Sweden's seminar on the social service's forced child abduction.

Freedom of speech is a constitutionally protected right, which Sweden prides itself on whenever Islam is to be mocked and whenever the Quran is to be burned in a public space under police protection. However, whenever the authorities and police are held accountable and exposed for their crimes, suddenly this freedom is not so sacred.

Several ministers have chosen to protect the crimes of the social services by dismissing justified criticism of the agency and have called it disinformation and at the same time called for censorship of the criticism. The Minister of Social Affairs, Lena Hallgren, said: "The past week has also seen the spread of another unpleasant type of disinformation. This involves accounts that have claimed that Muslim children have been kidnapped by the social services." Anders Ygeman, Minister for Integration and Migration, said: "At the same time, a great responsibility lies on the platforms where disinformation, hatred and threats are spread. The government has been pushing for new rules to be put in place in the EU to hold social media corporations accountable for removing illegal content online." Other politicians and media outlets are trying to distort the truth to cover the crimes of the social services by attacking Islam. Sabuni: "I had warned that radical Islamists were a threat to our suburbs fifteen years ago." Ulf Kristersson said, "The open democratic society must be defended when Islamists spread disinformation and incite acts of violence" [...]"The militant Islam and political Islam have been a major problem for many years". The hypocrisy comes to the surface when these flag-bearers of democracy and free speech demand that Muslims tolerate criticism when they themselves clearly lack the ability for it.

Politicians and the media try to turn the focus away from the real problem by pointing the finger at Islam. The real crime is social service's casual forced kidnapping of children on vague grounds, a drastic and inhumane measure that destroys families and puts children in a terrible position as well as a frightening state of health. Families and parents have every right to criticise and demand an end of terrorizing practices against their children. The politicians' disregard of this criticism is nothing more than an endorsement of this policy, which can only be understood in the light of the Islamophobic policy being pursued in the country, namely a policy of forced integration!

Instead, the media and politicians want to gag critics who only use the word as a weapon. Hizb ut Tahrir / Sweden has once again had the venue cancelled and notably there were 3 police cars, dozens of police officers and 6 security guards at the entrance to the venue to prevent the meeting. What is the difference between Sweden and other police states that ban dissenters from criticising those in power? And is Sweden trying to follow China's example, where the authorities place Muslim children in concentration camps because they are not Chinese enough?!

This violent policy is a sign of weakness and exposes the lie of the West's alleged tolerance and openness. The failure of the integration policy necessitated a transition in which coercion becomes the main ingredient.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Sweden