I reported a couple of days ago about a “Swedish” politician named Rashad Alasaad who was exposed as a people-smuggler. Mr. Alasaad allegedly ran a lucrative business arranging for the illegal migration of “refugees” from Greece to Sweden.

The article below from Samhällsnytt is a follow-up report on the Alasaad case. Many thanks to Kronans Martell for the translation:

Court orders Migration Board to make up their mind regarding the human trafficker’s application for Swedish citizenship, “as soon as possible”

Samhällsnytt continues to follow the leads on the Social Democrat politician, also known as the human trafficker, Rashad Alasaad. Today (Oct 4, 2019) the Immigration Court has ordered the Immigration Board in Malmö to make a decision concerning his application to become a Swedish citizen, and as soon as possible. “ I want them to make a positive decision.”

Yesterday Samhällsnytt disclosed new materials about the Social Democrat human trafficker of Ljungby, Rashad Alasaad. Among other things, we exposed that Alasaad has owned several properties in Sweden since 2018. The values of those properties don’t match his declared income. After a journalistic investigation by the news outlet Expressen, led by Kassem Hamade, which exposed Alasaad, the border police have started an investigation based on suspicion of human trafficking.

In addition, we were also able to disclose new information showing that Alasaad is a Syrian citizen who has been granted a Swedish residence permit. This situation lays the ground for the prosecutor to demand deportation if the police decided to press charges.

We can provide more information today. A very short time before Expressen made their investigation available to the public, Rashad Alasaad contacted the Migration Board on Wednesday demanding that they hurry up and make a decision regarding his application to become a Swedish citizen.

Alasaad was probably aware of the ongoing investigation by Expressen by the time (September 25th) he submitted his request to the Migration Board. He realized what consequences would be of such an investigation if it were to become public, especially consequences affecting his application for Swedish citizenship. If his request were to be approved, he would be certain that he wouldn’t be deported.

The background to this request is an earlier verdict by the Migration Court, which judged that his request for citizenship should be finalized within four weeks — which meant in August. The immigration authority stated on September 23rd that they refused the request, because the Migration Board didn’t manage to consider the request within that four-week window.

The Immigration Court in Malmo has made a decision this morning which backs up Alasaad: [letter]

The Migration Board will make a decision regarding his request to become a Swedish citizen as soon as possible. It took the board merely one week to make this decision. This is utterly odd, if the time it usually takes for similar verdicts is taken into consideration. On average, the procedures for such cases take between two and twelve months. It can also take much longer, even up to four years, which the parliamentary ombudsman criticized last summer. But in his case, it took remarkably a short time to make a decision.

When an applicant submits a request to become a Swedish citizen, the immigration board starts what is known as “conduct examination”. The examination begins with a request by an official at the board to check the police’s suspect directory and judicial/criminal records, and finally, a statement (of approval) by Säpo [Swedish Security Police]. It is still unknown when a person’s information is added to the suspect directory when the police start an investigation due to suspicion. This is noticeable because it could directly affect Alasaad’s application to become a Swedish citizen. In the case of approval before prosecution, he would be granted immunity from deportation.

Samhällsnytt has contacted the Migration Board’s press office to ask about their suspect directory and “conduct examination” process. But they knew neither how long the police will take to add an individual’s information to the suspect directory, nor whether the investigation of Alasaad will impose an obstacle to his application for citizenship.

— Egor Putilov