After SD Pressure: Sida Shuts Off the Funding Tap to Islamic Relief

Over 1.4 billion SEK have been forced by Sida from Swedish taxpayers over the past ten years to donate to Islamic Relief. Now, in a sudden turnaround, they are cutting off the flow of money. A victory for Sweden, says SD leader Jimmie Åkesson.

This summer, Samnytt revealed that the Swedish aid agency Sida had donated a total of 1.4 billion SEK to the Muslim aid organization Islamic Relief since 2016. Despite the organization being accused by several countries of Islamist fundamentalism and terrorist financing, as well as ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the money continued to be paid out.

Now that Sida is stopping the flow of funds, it refers to the fact that Islamic Relief is not considered to meet the requirements to ensure that there are no ties to violent extremism and anti-democratic activity. They also refer to stricter requirements from the Tidö government.

“Since the government’s directives are clear that such connections are incompatible with support from these strategies, Islamic Relief Sweden had its applications denied under the partner selection processes for the CSO and HUM strategies,” writes Sida’s press secretary Inga-Lill Hagberg in a comment to Expressen.

In an in-depth investigation conducted by the Center Against Violent Extremism (CVE), suspected ties were found. The report states that “a small number of individuals” within Islamic Relief in Sweden and associated networks have or have had connections to “violent extremism or anti-democratic environments”.

At the same time, Sida emphasizes that nothing has emerged to indicate that Islamic Relief Sweden’s actual operations are anti-democratic or violent in themselves, or that the current board exerts such influence over the organization.

“However, there are individuals with positions within the organization who may be considered to have such connections,” writes Sida.

Regrets the Decision

In a press release, Islamic Relief Sweden states that it “is an independent humanitarian organization” that “conducts humanitarian and development-related interventions in over 20 countries with the aim of alleviating distress, saving lives, and strengthening people’s resilience during crises and conflicts, as well as promoting sustainable development and human rights”.

Islamic Relief Sweden has had a strategic partnership with Sida since 2014 and applied in November 2024 for a continued partnership. In December 2025, the organization was informed that the application for a new strategic partnership was not granted following a statement from the Center Against Violent Extremism (CVE). The organization regrets the decision and continues its work in accordance with its humanitarian mission.

In its statement, CVE finds that no information has emerged to show that Islamic Relief Sweden’s activities, board, or member organizations are anti-democratic or violent, or that these organizations or the board exert such influence. At the same time, the statement says that CVE cannot guarantee IR Sweden’s future. This is a statement that we at Islamic Relief Sweden do not share.

Against this background, Islamic Relief Sweden intends to contact CVE for a deeper dialogue on the implementation of the statement and its conclusions. The organization has questions regarding, among other things, choice of methodology, source management, and the opportunity for Islamic Relief Sweden to express its views within the process. Islamic Relief Sweden welcomes dialogue and emphasizes that legal certainty, transparency, and the right to respond are fundamental principles in all public authority activities.

Furthermore, it states that Islamic Relief Sweden “clearly distances itself from all forms of political extremism and violent ideologies and acts as a faith-based but politically independent humanitarian actor, in accordance with the principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence,” and claims that the decision “ultimately affects the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who each year benefit from our humanitarian efforts”.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney visiting Islamic Relief. Photo: Scottish Government, CC BY 2.0

Åkesson: Victory

In a lengthy post on social media, SD leader Jimmie Åkesson comments on the decision, calling it a victory for Sweden “and an indication of how we will continue to work with these issues,” where not a single “krona of Swedes’ tax money should go to Islamist organizations”.

Åkesson also notes that the decision comes after several years of pressure from the Sweden Democrats and eventually the government.

“Not a day too soon,” writes Åkesson, also questioning what Magdalena Andersson has been doing all these years.

Aside from the reprehensible Islamist agenda, organizations of this kind also work against perhaps the most important thing Sweden needs right now, namely that people who have chosen to move here also fully adapt to our laws, rules, and norms. All parts of society must pull in the same direction here.

I can’t help but wonder what previous governments have been doing.

Under Magdalena Andersson’s weak leadership, Islamic Relief, with ties to violent extremism, was able to cash out hundreds of millions of our collective funds.

Åkesson further points out that in negotiations with the government, the Sweden Democrats have repeatedly negotiated into governing documents that Sida must strengthen its control mechanisms to ensure that no aid funds go to actors supporting violent extremism, including Islamism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism—something that a Social Democratic government could also have done, if there had been the will.

He now asks what possible future Social Democratic governments will do— a question Åkesson believes Swedish voters and taxpayers deserve honest and direct answers to well ahead of the election this fall.