A free school in Sweden is closed – and one staff member is said to have been working for a terrorist organisation

The license of the company running an independent school in Stockholm has been cancelled. The Swedish security police warned of the danger of extremism at the school.

Swedish school authorities have withdrawn the license granted to ALM Education to run Cordoba International School in Stockholm.

According to authorities, more than 500 students at the school are at risk of extremism. They base this on information from the Sapo security police, which says pre-school children are also at risk of indoctrination.

He previously worked for a terrorist organization

According to Sabo’s information, many employees and people in the school administration were in contact with violent Islamists. One of them is said to have previously worked for an Islamic terrorist organization abroad. Sabo based this in part on intelligence information.

Fredrik Hultgren-Frijberg, Säpo’s spokesperson, says they do not wish to comment further on the Islamic organization or organizations contacted by school staff.

The school administration opened a case and asked us for a statement. “We have confirmed that representatives of the school were in contact with violent extremists, and that children and young people are at risk of radicalization,” Freberg told the TT news agency.

Notice and review

The school authorities began investigating the school after the Stockholm municipality reported that it had not recorded any absences among students. The municipality also reported the school to the police because the students left the country while the school was still receiving funds.

– This prompted us to start an investigation, and through Sapo we contacted the “main man,” unit leader Anna Bergqvist in the school authorities tells TT.

The school, which offers preschool, first to ninth grade and after-school, has 516 students and was founded in 2008.

School authorities say it is not appropriate for operations to continue at the school while waiting for the closure decision to become legally binding. But in order for the students’ municipalities to have enough time to find new schools for them, the decision applies only from January 8.