Sweden map By P S Burton/Creative Commons

Nadine Osman

The King of Sweden visited a mosque in Örebro gutted in an arson attack on September 26. Carl XVI Gustaf was in Örebro for a previously scheduled visit to the university, and paid a visit to the mosque afterwards on his own request.

Örebro Mosque Deputy CEO, Hassan Mountagui, said, “It is an honour to us that the King was able to give us some of his time, because he was in Örebro. And that he was able to share this grief with us and see what has happened.”

A 20 year-old man was arrested in connection with the arson attack on a mosque, the latest in a string of such incidents in recent years.

Fire-fighters arrived at the site at 2 am but Örebro Mosque was completely gutted, according to Örebro fire Chief Ulf Jacobsen.

The mosque, which has a capacity for 250 people, was built in 2007 in the Vivalla neighbourhood. The mosque was first targeted in 2014 when someone threw a bottle with flammable contents through a window. However, a fire did not break out as a result.

The latest incident came after another suspected arson attack last May partially destroyed a Shia Muslim mosque in the Stockholm suburb of Jakobsberg.

An investigation by the Islamic Cooperation Council in Sweden revealed in 2015 that seven out of 10 mosques in the country had been attacked.

One part of the building is described as completely destroyed, and the roof has caved in. In another part, there are smoke and water damages. There are around 460,000 Muslims in Sweden constituting 4.6 percent of the population.