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CRIME

‘Serial rapist’ spreads fear in Lund

A number of attempted rapes against young girls have spread fear in Lund, in southern Sweden, and police now believe a single perpetrator lies behind all of the attacks.

'Serial rapist' spreads fear in Lund

A young woman and several girls, some as young as ten, have recently been attacked in the city’s eastern area.

Parents living in eastern Lund have been encouraged to walk their children to school and back, and police have increased their surveillance of the area.

“We believe the same man may be responsible for six separate attempted rapes,” said police inspector Stephan Söderberg to newspaper Aftonbladet.

Schools in the area have also raised their guard, to protect their students.

“On Friday we sent home a letter to all students and parents, with recommended measures,” said Marie Jönsson, head mistress of Vikingaskolan, to national TV station SVT.

Within just half an hour on Thursday afternoon, two 11 year-old girls were subjected to attempted rapes in the Linero neighbourhood.

According to Aftonbladet, the girls were attacked from behind. One hand was placed over their mouths and another between their legs. The attacker even attempted to cart off one of the girls.

“When the girl screamed he ran away,” said Söderberg.

According to several media reports, Thursday’s attempted rapes are likely connected to two attacks last weekend, which also occurred in eastern Lund.

“We can’t rule out that the perpetrator is the same man,” said Håkan Nilsson of the Lund police force to news agency TT.

“It happens in the same area, at roughly the same time in the afternoon. And he acts almost the same every time. There are several factors which feel as though it might be the same man,” explained Stephan Söderberg to Aftonbladet.

No suspect has yet been arrested for the crimes.

Lund’s police force have now raised their surveillance of the city’s eastern areas.

“There are police officers there around the clock now,” said Håkan Nilsson to TT.

He explained that they’ve received several tips from the public. In a bid to learn more, a police bus will be set up in the area on Saturday, which anyone with information on the attacks is encouraged to visit.

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CRIME

Sweden charges Islamic State woman in landmark trial

Swedish prosecutors said they have brought genocide charges against a woman in the country's first court case over crimes committed by the Islamic State group against the Yazidi minority.

Sweden charges Islamic State woman in landmark trial

A prosecutor told AFP the 52-year-old woman was accused of keeping Yazidi women and children as slaves at her home in Syria between 2014 and 2016.

She was charged with “genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes” on the grounds that her actions formed part of a broader campaign by the group (IS or Isis) against the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority.

The woman, who is a Swedish citizen, is in jail having already been sentenced by a Swedish court to six years in prison in 2022 for allowing her 12-year-old son to be recruited as a child soldier for Isis.

Senior prosecutor Reena Devgun told AFP that while investigating that case, authorities had received witness reports “that told us that she had kept slaves in Raqqa,” the former stronghold of the Islamic State group in northern Syria, prompting further investigations.

“If you take in Yazidis into your household when you are an Isis member or the wife of an Isis member and treat them this way, I argue that you are participating” in the broader campaign against them, Devgun said.

Devgun said the woman had kept nine people, three women and six children, in her home “as slaves”.

The women and children – who were kept in the house for between 20 days and seven months – were among other things made to perform household tasks.

Devgun said they had also been photographed, which the prosecutor argued “was done with the intention that they would be sold off”.

Evidence had mainly been gathered through witness accounts, from the victims and others that had visited the home at the time.

The crimes, which the woman denies, can carry a life sentence in Sweden.

Stockholm’s District Court said in a statement that the trial was scheduled to start on October 7th and was expected to last two months.

Around 300 Swedes or Swedish residents, a quarter of them women, joined IS in Syria and Iraq, mostly in 2013 and 2014, according to Sweden’s intelligence service Säpo.

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