New anti-terrorism law comes into force in Sweden

By Atila Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) - A new anti-terrorism law, which was ratified by the Swedish parliament last month, went into force on Thursday.

The law was one of Türkiye's main demands to ratify the Nordic country's NATO membership.

In an interview with the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter in April, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that the legislation would come into force on June 1.

He also said that the new law would assuage Türkiye's concerns.

The PKK has "extensive work in Sweden to raise money and finance terrorist activities aimed at Türkiye," the minister was quoted as saying in the daily.

Billstrom added that the organization also uses Sweden as a base for drug sales and other activities that also harm Swedish society.

"The terrorist business is not directed at the Swedish state, but to another state, and that does not make it any less serious," he said.

- New law

The law which aims to criminalize membership in terrorist organizations in the country, will bring up to four years in prison for those who participate in terrorist activities or cooperate with terrorist organizations.

According to the law, this includes those who participate in activities with the intent to support, strengthen or encourage a terrorist organization.

If there are aggravating reasons, the penalty for these crimes will be a minimum of two years, which can be increased to a maximum of eight years for crimes deemed serious.

Those who are involved in crimes such as the supply of weapons, ammunition, flammable and explosive materials, transportation support, and renting land and property to a terrorist organization can be sentenced to up to four years in prison.

If there are aggravating reasons for these crimes, prison sentences ranging from 1.5 to 7 years will be imposed.

The law gives authorities much broader powers to detain and prosecute people who finance or otherwise support terrorist organizations.

Although Türkiye approved Finland's membership to NATO, it is waiting for Sweden to abide by a trilateral memorandum signed last June in Madrid to address Ankara’s security concerns.