Sweden jails man for joining IS under new law

A Swedish court on Friday sentenced a man to three years in jail for joining the Islamic State (IS) group, the country’s first conviction since new legislation was introduced banning participation in a terrorist group.

The 22-year-old man was convicted of “participation in a terrorist organisation,” as well financing terrorism and three counts of foreign travel for terrorism purposes, the court said in a statement.

According to the court all charges concerned IS and the three trips were all to Somalia.

His sentence was set to three years and three months in prison.

The case is the first conviction for the crime of “participation in a terrorist organisation”, under a law that was adopted by parliament in 2023.

Sweden had been adopting tougher anti-terror laws since 2017, after an Uzbek asylum seeker — who had sworn allegiance to IS — drove a truck down a busy shopping street in Stockholm, killing five people.

But the legislation on participation in a terrorist group required the country to first amend its constitution as it was deemed to infringe on Sweden’s freedom of association laws.

The adoption of the bill also came as Turkey was holding up Sweden’s bid to join NATO — with Ankara demanding that Sweden crack down on extremist groups.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden ended two centuries of military non-alignment and applied to join the alliance in May 2022 — eventually joining in March 2024.