Swedish Church Denies Group It Supports Has Muslim Brotherhood Ties

The Church of Sweden has defended a Muslim charity it works with against allegations of links to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, only to be countered by claims from a Swedish terror expert.

The official Twitter account of the Church, managed by its communications department, replied to a conversation on Thursday started by Social Democrat member Maria Hind Alias about the Muslim charity Islamic Relief, which the Church has worked with in the past.

Another Twitter user pointed out that Islamic Relief has reported links to the Muslim Brotherhood, something Islamic relief denied in a press release last year after German press reported on the alleged links.

“Allegations surfacing in the German media claiming that Islamic Relief Worldwide has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are damaging, defamatory and false. Islamic Relief is a purely humanitarian organisation, which categorically has no ties to any political group,” the group had said in April 2019.

The Church of Sweden Twitter account echoed the sentiment, writing that the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) had “released reports showing that there is no scientific support to say that these organisations are linked to [the Muslim Brotherhood].”

Swedish terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp replied to the church tweet, saying: “That statement is not true.” He claimed that there had been studies showing clear links between Islamic Relief and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ranstorp has long been a critic of Sweden’s approach to radical Islam. He criticised the government in August after it was revealed that over 1.2 billion Swedish kronor of government cash had gone to organisations linked to radical Islamists in the last five years.

The Church of Sweden has long been known as one of the most liberal churches in Europe. It has been not only accommodating of Muslims by proposing allowing churches to be used for Muslim prayers, but clergy members have expressed joy at the Islamic call to prayer being public broadcast in the country.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com