Iranians in Sweden demand closure of mosque as “espionage center”
Iranian protesters held a demonstration outside the Imam Ali mosque north of Stockholm, demanding the center be shut down, calling it the “Islamic Republic’s spy nest”.
The protesters paid tribute to the victims killed by the Islamic Republic, lighting candles and placing flowers next to their photos.
About two million of Sweden’s population is made up of immigrants of various religions, and the government provides financial support to their religious centers, including the Imam Ali Mosque in Stockholm, affiliated with the Islamic Republic.
However, Iranians living in Sweden, human rights and political activists believe that the Imam Ali mosque is not a place of worship, but a “nest of espionage for the Islamic Republic”.
In the past year, Swedish media have published several reports about Imam Ali and other mosques, including in Malmö, which say that temporary marriages are practiced in these mosques, calling it “legal prostitution”.
Some Swedish parliamentarians have also called for the closure of such places because, according to them, these mosques, specifically the Imam Ali mosque, receive funding from non-democratic governments such as the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In recent weeks, Iranians have also rallied outside the Islamic Centers in Frankfurt and Hamburg, calling them dens of Islamic Republic espionage and demanding their closure.
Meanwhile, Iranians living in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Copenhagen, Auckland, etc. held rallies on Saturday to express support for the Iranian people’s uprising against the Islamic Republic.