Swedish far right split over land sale to mosque

A councillor for the xenophobic Sweden Democrat party is facing expulsion from his party – after preparing to sell land to people who want to build a mosque on it. The Sweden Democrats often express hostility against Muslims and the Islamic religion, and some in the leadership have proposed a ban against the building of mosques in Sweden.

But their councillor Jan Hansveden explained to local paper Helsingborgs Dagblad that the land sale involves “a scary amount of money” – around 850,000 US dollars. And that as far as he is concerned, it is his business who he sells his property to. The councillor sits in Landskrona local government council, one of the far right party’s biggest success areas.

But SD party leader Jimmie Åkesson has slammed the councillor as “greedy” and said that if the deal goes ahead, he’s not welcome in the party any longer.

Swedish Radio, 1 August 2009