Swedish diplomat suspected of spying found dead
On Monday, the Swedish Security Service (Sapo) announced the arrest, but gave no details about the case or the suspect's identity.
The following day, broadcaster SVT said the man arrested was a top diplomat.
On Wednesday, prosecutors released him from custody but said that he was still a suspect.
"We regret to confirm that a member of the foreign service has died. Out of consideration for the next of kin, we will not go into further details," the foreign ministry said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Newspaper Expressen reported that the man who had been found dead overnight was the one who had been detained on suspicion of spying.
Anton Strand, the suspect's lawyer, said this week that his client denied the allegations against him and maintained "that he has done nothing wrong".
Mr Strand also said his client had gone to a hospital after being released on Wednesday and reported police for using excessive force during his arrest, but did not provide details about the extent of the injuries.
SVT also reported this week that Sapo was investigating whether the case was connected to a scandal that hit Swedish national security adviser Tobias Thyberg.
He resigned within hours of his 8 May appointment after "sensitive" photos of him from dating app Grindr were sent anonymously to media and the government.
SVT, which has not specified its sources, said the diplomat arrested was not Mr Thyberg, who served as Sweden's ambassador to Ukraine and Afghanistan among other positions over a 24-year career.
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The Journal
6 days ago
- The Journal
Debunked: Irish influencer's video peddles baseless claims about immigration and crime in Sweden
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The chart in McCarthy's video claims that 67% of Swedish people are white in 2025, and this is falling by 1.1% a year. Even if these figures were true, they do not imply white people would be in a minority in ten years. Whether he means a 1.1% decrease per year, or a drop of 1.1 percentage points each year, you still get a figure higher than 50%. However, there are compelling reasons to think that these figures are false. Sweden does not officially collect racial or ethnic statistics due to a legal prohibition , and 'white' is not a recognised category in official statistics, let alone a rate of decrease in white people. There is no indication of where the 1.1% figure comes from, and it is not backed up by official statistics. The SCB (Sweden's state statistics agency) does however collect data on where each person in the country was born, as well as the nationality of their parents. These figures are what are usually cited when estimates of Sweden's ethnic makeup are given, such as in the CIA World Factbook , which says Sweden is 79.6% ethnically Swedish. This information on parents nationality and country of birth like the most likely candidate for where the 67% figure came from. This was the proportion of Swedish citizens from 2018-2020 that were born in Sweden to two Swedish parents. It should be noted that these statistics give us no information about what percentage of the population is white, which McCarthy seems to conflate with being Swedish. People born in Sweden to two parents who were also born in Sweden may be non-white. And people born in a different country can also be white, or be born to two Swedish parents. To give an idea of the breakdown , last year, more than 208,000 Swedish residents that were born outside the state were from other Nordic countries, and almost 380,000 were from non-Nordic EU countries. A further almost 350,000 were from non-EU European countries, including almost 60 thousand from Yugoslavia, a country that hasn't existed since the early nineties. In either case, there is no reliable source corroborating the claims made in the video. Bombings McCarthy goes on to claim that this supposed change in demographics will cause Sweden to become particularly dangerous. Advertisement While there has been a significant increase in organised crime in Sweden since about 2005, the claims McCarthy makes about this subject are, again, not based in fact. 'Sweden has the most bombings of any country not in a war,' McCarthy says. 'Sweden! A place people probably thought was very safe.' So, is this true? The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention has specific statistics on this, showing that there have been 129 explosions associated with criminal violence in 2024. It was 149 in 2023 and 90 in 2022. However, there are other countries not at war that have worse figures than this. For example, in 2024, 248 bombings were recorded in Pakistan — a country that is not at war (albeit one that did experience escalated tensions with India this year). Colombia saw 457 launched explosives and controlled detonation devices in 2024, according to the Red Cross . It should be noted that these comparisons are not always apt. The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention warn that comparing figures between nations is tricky. 'Does Sweden stand out when it comes to explosions, compared to other countries?' a section on their website reads (in Swedish). 'It is not so easy to answer because it is difficult to find reliable comparative statistics,' it answers. 'Different countries register differently. What is legally considered an explosion in Sweden may be registered as something else in another country.' The casualties that are caused by the explosions can help to give us an idea of the scale of such incidents. The casualty count , including deaths and injuries, from bombings in Pakistan in 2024 was 1,476. In Colombia, it was 719. Despite the number of explosions in Sweden, no deaths were recorded to have been caused by criminal explosives in 2024, police report. 'The explosion is used primarily as a marker and a threat,' an analysis by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention reads. 'The purpose is rarely to kill someone.' Malmö and Baghdad In the video, McCarthy says: 'Malmö in Sweden is ranked as dangerous as Baghdad.' Onscreen, a headline echoing this claim appears. This claim might sound familiar to recent claims about Ireland, repeated by Conor McGregor and Fox News , about how Dublin is ranked as the most dangerous city in Europe. And, indeed, this claim about Sweden has an almost identical unreliable source. The headline that appeared onscreen was taken from the English newspaper The Express, which made that claim in January , linking back to a website called Numbeo – the same Serbian company that was behind the claim about Dublin being dangerous. Numbeo describes itself as 'a crowd-sourced global database of quality of life data' and notes that data on crime is 'derived from surveys conducted by visitors to our website,' rather than from facts. The site also includes a disclaimer that none of its data has 'necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise' to provide 'accurate or reliable information'. 'There is absolutely no assurance that any statement contained on the website is correct or precise,' it says. While it did rank Malmö and Baghdad next to each other (the 97th and 96th most dangerous cities, respectively), it ranked other well-known cities as much worse, such as Manchester (89), Paris (80), Washington, DC (72), and Houston, Texas (51). In other words, these rankings are worthless for giving an indication of crime in cities. There has been a real surge in gang violence that has affected Sweden's rankings in more rigorous studies of its safety. Nevertheless, Sweden's levels of danger are dwarfed by Iraq's, which is still the target of attacks by insurgent groups, such as Islamic State. Want to be your own fact-checker? Visit our brand-new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for guides and toolkits The Journal's FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network's Code of Principles. You can read it here . For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader's Guide here . You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. Articles like this one brings you clarity, transparency and balance so you can make well-informed decisions. We set up FactCheck in 2016 to proactively expose false or misleading information, but to continue to deliver on this mission we need your support. Over 5,000 readers like you support us. If you can, please consider setting up a monthly payment or making a once-off donation to keep news free to everyone. Learn More Support The Journal
The Irish Sun
7 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Gunman opens fire outside mosque in Sweden as police urgently hunt on the run shooter and warn people to stay away
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Irish Independent
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- Irish Independent
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