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Two held for shooting imam in northern Sweden

Published: 16 May 12 17:53 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/40882/20120516/

Two men have been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of an imam who remains in a coma nearly three months after being shot in the head in northern Sweden.

The two men, both of whom are in their 30s, were arrested in Skåne in southern Sweden on Tuesday.

They are suspected of involvement in the February 22nd shooting of Obydkhon Sobitkhony Nazarov, who had served as an imam in Strömsund, where he has lived since coming to Sweden in 2006 as a political refugee from Uzbekistan.

According to prosecutor Krister Petersson, both suspects also hail from Uzbekistan.

One speaks English proficiently, as well as some Swedish, while the other speaks only Uzbek and Russian.

On Wednesday, they were transported from Skåne to Östersund in northern Sweden where investigators continue their efforts to figure out who was behind the shooting of Nazarov.

Nazarov is a known critic of the regime in Uzbekistan and came to Sweden along with scores of other political refugees after a 2005 crackdown by Uzbek government troops in Andijan in which hundreds of protesters were killed, although the exact number of casualties remains in dispute.

At the time of the incident, known as the Andijan massacre, the Uzbek government claimed the demonstrations were organized by Islamic radicals.

In the wake of the influx of Uzbek refugees, Strömsund, a town of just over 4,000 residents, has seen a rise in hate crimes ranging from racist graffiti to the burning down of a mosque in the city in 2008.

Prosecutors have filed a remand order for the two suspects, but the person who fired the shots that nearly killed Nazarov remains at large.

"Our understanding that there is another man who carried out the act but that he may no longer be in the country," Petersson told the TT news agency.

Investigators believe that Nazarov's political activities may have been the reason for why he was shot and opted to inform Swedish security service Säpo at an early stage of the investigation.

"It's clear that the imam was some sort of leader, a prominent person in Uzbekistan. The regime hasn't been too keen on him," said Petersson.

"If it's the case that someone wanted to get rid of him on a political level, that makes this a very sensitive issue."

A spokesperson from Amnesty in Sweden explained that many Uzbek exiles are under threat.

"There were previous speculations that the Uzbek security service may be behind it. If it turns out the Uzbek state is behind this it's important that it results in further action and not end with these two men," Amnesty's Elisabeth Löfgren told TT.

TT/The Local/dl
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18:35 May 16, 2012 by ctinej
Just last month, a drug dealer from eastern Europe, was shot dead at an outdoor cafe in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

In some respects, it may be a good thing that the druggies are eliminating themselves.

The Imman,....I dont know who he offended, but it goes to show that people from there, are bent on getting even.

I thought that Allah protected such people, and only helped them to kill Infidels.
18:58 May 16, 2012 by canuk
perhaps this was one of those religious people that believes its ok to beat your wife!
19:57 May 16, 2012 by Rishonim
I wish a speed and full recovery for the Imam and may Elohim brings comfort to his family.
20:41 May 16, 2012 by canuk
i wish #3 a lesson in english and grammer
00:22 May 17, 2012 by gh2008
grammar nazi strike again!
05:38 May 17, 2012 by bells on the knight
oh man. throw these ill willing people out. the residency for my wife was recently rejected by the migration board.

Guess what:

I'm at least 9 generation Swedish, my kids are Swedish and my wife EU national. She now has to leave Sweden every 3 months or she face charges for illegal immigration.

Totally screwed up system.
08:17 May 17, 2012 by Rishonim
@ Canuk, thanks for your wishes. Since english is only my 8th language, I see room for improvement.down the road.
10:18 May 17, 2012 by AHA
I hope that the imam is not like the ones on TV program Uppdrag granskning. And just like Rishonin, wish him a quick recovery, inshaallah.
11:21 May 17, 2012 by liban91
@citnej or watevea ur name is you don't nothing about Islam so shut ur mouth idiot.
11:49 May 17, 2012 by Migga
Hopefully the man is ok and I sure hope they find the perp.
12:43 May 17, 2012 by Reason abd Realism
Interesting that the comments section is open for this article, which pertains to Russian/Uzbeki muslim violence against their own Imam, but that no comments are being allowed for the article

http://www.thelocal.se/40866/20120516/

which reveals that many leaders of the Swedish Islamic community in Stockholm are guilty of the hate crime of telling their own women that they effectively deserve to be beaten.

They should not only be suspended but arrested for their hate crime, and their mosques converted to shelters for muslim women and children, with no admission allowed to any man.

Religion is not above the law. The Catholic churches in Boston had to pay millions in reparations for their crimes, so no reason why these imams should go unpunished.
17:21 May 17, 2012 by isenhand
@bells on the knight

residency for my wife was recently rejected by the migration board. - I don't think that's right! According to Migrationsverket :

http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/3419_en.html

Husband/wife, registered partner or co-habitee

You are entitled to receive a residence permit if you are married, have entered into a registered partnership with, or are co-habiting with someone living in Sweden.

See the Swedish here:

http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/3981.html

You didn't do something silly like apply on the wrong form or they think u r not Swedish?
22:17 May 17, 2012 by omash kavash
guess what guys u keep on talkin bad about islam and the thing is u guys here are scared islam is the solution to humanity and no imam said is good to beat ur wife i guess u guys wait for things like this n try to expose islam ur swedes are taking nislam and this is just a scare tactic but guess what god guides whom he wants and 80 percent are swedish girls n wemen so to all the teachers here who are to teach language thanx alot but remeber life is short u can die anytime any day no one has a life guarantee and after death there is life and ull answer what u talk about for theres two angels recording on ur shoulders on what u said so watch out islam is solution to humanity hate it or love it take it or leave it
00:01 May 18, 2012 by saab
Omash Kavash speaks Mish Mash but makes a point

Islam = Official Religion of Sweden
10:00 May 18, 2012 by Uncle
@canuk

"i wish #3 a lesson in english and grammer"

Brilliant. Not only did I love the correct "grammEr" in this sentence, also the lack capital "I", as well as capital "E" in "English" that are clearly pointing in direction towards English class for first graders. In addition, "wishing a lesson" is logically incorrect. One could wish that one HAD a lesson. Alternatively, one could wish FOR a noun to do an action. "FOR a weather to come, FOR a lesson to start, FOR idiots to bury themselves deep underground" etc.

Omash Kavash

"so watch out islam is solution to humanity hate it or love it take it or leave it"

THAT is exactly the point. We ARE watching it. We are very careful with it and extremely attentive to this "last solution" to humanity. Nazis also offered an interesting solution to the world in their time. We are also watching meteors that can offer alternative solution to humanity.

As for me, I prefer to "leave it" as you propose. Leave it in the bucket of feces countries that islam helped to form.
10:08 May 18, 2012 by omash kavash
yes saab or subway i dont know how to say ur name so swedish saab u sayin this to show how u dont like islam but remember who ever god guides is guided
11:50 May 18, 2012 by Uncle
Yep, God guides Somalia. He guides Sudan. He guides Yemen and Iraq. God guides many quality countries that Sweden shall take an example of.

As for not knowing how to say "saab" in SWEDEN... excellent example of muslim education... Also a bright light to follow.
14:14 May 18, 2012 by Reason abd Realism
@ omash kavash brainwash post #13

'no imam said is good to beat ur wife'

Imams at 6 out of 10 mosques that were investigated in Sweden told women that they should not report abuse they receive from their husbands.

I am not afraid of Islam, but I am disgusted by Islamic community leaders who support the physical abuse of women.

And I am not pretending that only Islam has bad religious leaders. In my post I also pointed out criminal activity by another religion.

Rather than trying to pretend that that promotion of victimization of women and girls is not happening within the Islamic community, or that it is not a hate crime, you and other members of the Islamic community should be active in trying to imprison or deport these vommit bags for their crime.

Catholics who did not object to criminal sexual activity on the part of some priests are idiots, and are not true Catholics.

Likewise if you do not add your voice to help clean up this mess of rotten Imams, then this means you either indirectly or directly support the abuse and beating of women, and this means that you are a complete failure as a human being.
20:36 May 18, 2012 by TheWatchman
@Reason abd Realism

The reason why the other article was not allowed is because they don't want to offend the new occupiers of Sweden.

@omash kavash

It's ironic that you think Allah is actually guiding you people because Arab countries are some of the poorest in the world, and they have much lower IQ's than the citizens of Western and East Asian countries. I think Allah as you call him actually guides your greatest enemies, the infidels such as America, Canada Israel and Denmark.
23:07 May 18, 2012 by omash kavash
hahaha my freidns number 1 reason abd if u give me any verse in the quran or the hadith that promotes the abuse of wife al follow you to your religion my friend to watchman what u talkin about where does the oil diamond gold that u see in the tv n use to build ur economy comes from ur european and western criminal regimes kill innocent for that they go in,libya somalia yemen congo n list goes on n on n on so stop opening that wide useless mouth what do u do with ur higher iq n u dont even know god if ur smart u wud know who created u lame handiicaped
13:29 May 19, 2012 by Reason abd Realism
ha ha ha omash kavash i never talk bout quran i talk about rotten imams rotten like dogs ass they leaders of islam in sweden and they say okay to abuse of women and make bad image of islam in west and you big part of problem not because you imam because you support them blind and stupid so you also dogs ass why you talk about two angels watch everything you do and tell god in heaven why not you make world better place today and get rid of dogs ass imams yourself after that people respect islam
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