Communists in Sweden call new espionage law “harmful to whistleblowers and press freedom”: Peoples Dispatch
Protest in Stockholm against the new law on espionage. (Photo: via proletaren.se)
A new espionage law, which entered into force in Sweden on January 1, has been met with widespread criticism from journalists and progressive sections in the country and abroad. The Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, passed the law on 16 November 2022, with 270 votes in favor and 37 against. The law amends the Freedom of the Press Ordinance and the Freedom of Expression Act to incorporate and criminalize “foreign espionage”, “gross foreign espionage” and “disclosure of secret information within the framework of international cooperation” in the Swedish penal code.
The right-wing Sweden Democrats, the Center Party, the Social Democrats, the Moderates and the Liberals voted for the bill, while members of parliament from the Left Party and the Green Party voted against. When the Riksdag voted on the bill already in November, hundreds of people demonstrated on Mynttorget in Stockholm i protest.
According to reports, the new law will allow the police to investigate publicists, journalists and whistleblowers if they reveal secret or sensitive information that could damage Sweden’s relationship with another state or an international organization, such as NATO, the European Union (EU) or the UN. (U.N). If such allegations are “proven”, sentences of up to four years can be given for publishing sensitive information.
The law has been criticized by journalists and their unions as being harmful to freedom of the press and expression, and is likely to adversely affect whistleblowers, journalists and responsible publishers in the country. Progressive groups and communists have also argued that the law was issued and passed to cover up secrets and scandals involved in Sweden’s bid to join NATO and its participation in imperialist conflicts.
Andreas Sörensen from Sweden’s Communist Party (SKP) told Dispatch of the people on January 3, “The new law, which limits the right to freedom of expression and investigative journalism, comes against the background of the sharpened imperialist contradictions, which creates a need to secure the home front. This becomes especially important when Sweden seeks entry into NATO.”
“It is worth pointing out that it is not the current government that took the initiative for the law, but the previous government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens, which makes it clear that there is political consensus on this issue,” he claimed.
Last year, against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Sweden, along with neighboring Finland, rejected its traditional policy of neutrality and applied for membership in NATO, courting criticism from anti-imperialist voices in the region.
In November last year, the Communist Party in Sweden had stated that “the restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press do not come in a vacuum, they are closely linked to Sweden’s approach to NATO. It is also NATO cooperation and future NATO wars in which Sweden participates that should not be compromised by any whistleblowers on the inside or by any curious investigative journalists and brave responsible publishers.”
– This means that it will be punishable for whistleblowers, journalists and responsible publishers to, for example, expose war crimes in international operations in which Sweden participates. This means that it will also be a criminal offense to expose lies that underlie international war efforts, such as ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq. “Sweden is now getting laws that allow Swedish journalists and whistleblowers to meet the same fate as Julian Assange, who is in prison for exposing US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the party said.