ALBAWABA - In a statement released on Tuesday, Swedish claimed that Iran had hacked into a mobile texting service last year and sent thousands of messages to the Swedish people, pushing them to exact retribution against those who burned the Holy Quran, Reuters reports.
According to the Swedish Prosecution Authority, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) broke into a local SMS provider last year and pushed out around 15,000 text messages asking for vengeance after the burning of the holy book of Islam during demonstrations.
On many times in 2023, individuals throughout Sweden set fire to the sacred book of Islam in public, which sparked frustration among Muslims all over the globe and raised worries of incidents happening in retribution.
“The security police are able to establish that a cyber group acted on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to carry out an influence campaign,” the Swedish Security Service stated, adding “The purpose was, among other things, to paint the image of Sweden as an Islamophobic country and create division in society.”
In response to the allegations, the Iranian embassy in Stockholm commented, as reported by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA): “We expect Swedish authorities to curb this scheme against Iran, especially since the Swedish judiciary issued a rightful decision to prosecute those who desecrated the Holy Quran.”
Despite the fact that Swedish prosecutors have declared that they have identified the "Iranian hackers" responsible for the SMS campaign, they have decided to conclude the case since it is very improbable that they would be sought for criminal charges, Aljazeera notes.
“Since the actors are acting for a foreign power, in this case Iran, we make the assessment that the conditions for prosecution abroad or extradition to Sweden are lacking for the persons suspected of being behind the breach,” senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist stated.
