The European Parliament’s debate on the fatal assault of Swedish police officer and father of young children, Christian Zedig, in Copenhagen, finally took place after a political tug-of-war. But after the debate, the spotlight has turned to Center Party MEP Abir Al-Sahlani, who accused the Sweden Democrats of using the tragedy for political gain – despite repeatedly having used widely publicized deaths and disasters as arguments for her own migration policies.

During Monday’s debate in the European Parliament, Sweden Democrat MEP Charlie Weimers raised the fatal assault of Christian Zedig, the 32-year-old Swedish police officer who died after a brutal attack during football celebrations in Copenhagen.

Weimers argued that the case needed to be discussed within a broader context of security and migration.

– Two attacks in two countries, but the same question that we can no longer ignore. When things like this keep happening again and again, we must dare to talk about it, said Weimers during the debate.

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He also criticized the Social Democrats, the Left, and the Greens for initially opposing a European Parliament debate on the incident. Weimers also argued for stricter possibilities to deport foreign nationals who commit serious crimes.

Al-Sahlani: “Political Prop”

Center Party MEP Abir Al-Sahlani took quite a different stance. She is furious that the Sweden Democrats are highlighting the fatal assault in parliament.

– That’s why it’s so remarkable that Charlie Weimers from the Sweden Democrats once again chooses to use an individual’s tragic death for political points, she said in the chamber.

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– When an ongoing criminal case becomes a political weapon, the focus shifts from the crime, from the victim and instead becomes rhetorical stage dressing. Christian deserves better. His family deserves better, she continued.

Has Herself Used Deaths as Political Instruments

The criticism towards Al-Sahlani, however, is not mainly about her speech itself, but that she has for many years herself used publicized tragedies as arguments for changes to the EU’s migration policy.

A recurring example is the Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, whose body was washed ashore on a Turkish beach in 2015. The images received international attention and came to symbolize the refugee crisis.

In an opinion article five years later, Al-Sahlani wrote that “the dead three-year-old became a symbol for the ongoing refugee crisis” and that his death was “a painful reminder that Europe’s migration policy wasn’t working.” She further argued for a more far-reaching joint European asylum policy and concluded with the words:

“To honor the memory of Alan Kurdi, the EU needs to have a functioning asylum law in place.”

She expressed the same message in several opinion pieces during 2020, where Kurdi’s death was used as an argument for increased redistribution of asylum seekers among EU countries, more rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and harsher sanctions against member states that oppose this migration line.

Also Linked Campfire to Migration Policy

A few weeks later Al-Sahlani wrote about the big fire in the migrant camp in Moria on the Greek island Moria. She described the fire and the resulting human suffering as a consequence of EU countries’ migration policy.

“This is what can happen when member states don’t take responsibility on migration issues.”

She further described the fire as “a bitter reminder of the acute problem we face in a Europe where migration policy currently doesn’t work” and used the disaster as an argument for an extensive reform of the EU asylum system.

Continued to Use Kurdi as a Symbol

Even several years later, Al-Sahlani returned to Alan Kurdi in the political debate. In a Facebook post in 2023, where she argued for mandatory redistribution of migrants within the EU, she wrote:

“We haven’t learned a thing since Alan Kurdi’s little body was washed up on the shore in Turkey.”

The post directly linked deaths in the Mediterranean to the need for a more generous European migration policy and at the same time criticized the Moderates and Christian Democrats for describing migration as a problem.

It later emerged that Alan Kurdi’s father was the main reason for the tragedy. He risked his family’s life in a fragile vessel in the Mediterranean because he wanted asylum to receive free dental care in Europe. More family members also drowned.

Double Standards

The difference between Al-Sahlani’s stance then and now has therefore become a topic of discussion after the EU debate on Christian Zedig. When it comes to migration-related tragedies, Al-Sahlani has repeatedly used deaths, drowning accidents, and humanitarian disasters as arguments for political reforms at the EU level.

READ ALSO: The victim’s name was Christian – but no one wants to talk about Europe’s new murderers

When the Sweden Democrats now connect the killing of Christian Zedig to issues of migration and insecurity on the streets, she claims, by contrast, that it is about using a victim as “political prop”.