Repeated calls for his resignation do nothing. Richard Jomshof, one of the historic executives of the Swedish far right, chairman of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee since October 2022, may multiply provocations with racist connotations, but he seems indestructible. Hermetic to criticism, the man is protected not only by his party, the Sweden Democrats (SD), but also by a conservative liberal right which knows it is dependent on the SD to govern.
Mr. Jomshof’s latest target: the deputy of the Left Party, Daniel Riazat, who revealed, on February 23, that he had been approached to succeed the leader of his party, Nooshi Dadgostar. A few days later, an old video, dating from 2015, resurfaced. The newly elected parliamentarian explains that he wants to move, so as not to occupy official accommodation in the same building as the SD deputy, Mattias Karlsson.
The opportunity is too good for Richard Jomshof, who hastens to react on X: “Personally, I think that [Daniel Riazat] should “move” from Sweden. He is a shame for the Iranian diaspora”, writes the president of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee. Born in Tehran, the 32-year-old Left Party MP was granted asylum in Sweden in 2004, before obtaining his naturalization.
Supported by many elected officials from his party, as well as from the conservative right, Mr. Jomshof does not stop there. In a new message, he claims that Daniel Riazat refuses to shake hands with women in Parliament, insinuating that it is for religious reasons. However, a video shows the opposite. The vice-president of the Left Party, Ida Gabrielsson, clarifies that Mr. Riazat is not even Muslim, but that doesn’t matter: “We [dit] to discredit him. Because Muslim, by definition, is something bad in these circles. »
“A shame for Sweden”
On “Jomshof” And “Riazat” are now among the three most used keywords in Sweden, since Tuesday February 27, behind “NATO” – as the country prepares to join the Atlantic Alliance. Internet users are unleashed against the deputy, accused of“Islamist” and asked to leave Sweden as quickly as possible.
In the ranks of the opposition, the outrage is at its height. Nooshi Dadgostar accuses Mr. Jomshof of having “created a xenophobic campaign against an elected MP”. “Racism remains racism, even when he wears a costume. It’s disgusting “comments Green spokesperson Märta Stenevi. “It is a shame for Sweden that this man is the chairman of the legal affairs committee of the Parliament”adds editorialist Oisin Cantwell, in the newspaper Aftonbladetclose to the Social Democratic Party.
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