Radio Islam was a Swedish

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic local

radio channel Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

, now a website. The EU's racism monitoring organization has called it "one of the most radical right-wing

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

homepages on the net".

Mission

The Radio Islam

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

states that it "is working to promote better relations between the West and the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

World". It also states that it is "against

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

of all forms, against all kinds of discrimination of people based on their colour of skin, faith or ethnical background".

History

In September 1973 Ahmed Rami, a former Moroccan army officer, came to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He gained political asylum by claiming that he took part in the failed coup attempt against

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

in August 1972. In 1987 Rami began using a public access Swedish radio station to broadcast "Radio Islam", ostensibly a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

program for Sweden's

s. However, the content of the shows focused on

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s, and the station was accused of being a vehicle for

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. During its very first years a number of well-known Swedish intellectuals and (often pro-Palestinian) writers participated in the radio, such as Per Gahrton,

Jan Guillou Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (, ; born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Pet ...

and Jan Myrdal. With the exception of Myrdal (who also dissociated from Rami, but later) these individuals early on distanced themselves from Rami, dissociated from, and spoke out against Rami and Radio Islam. In 1990 Rami was sentenced to 6 months in prison for

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

, and Radio Islam's transmission permit was revoked for a year. The station resumed broadcasting in 1991 under the direction of the Swedish

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

David Janzon; however, in 1993 Janzon was convicted of the same crime. In May 1992 newspaper

Expressen (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden. Describing itself as independent liberal, was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or " to your rescue". The newspaper awards the cultu ...

revealed that Rami had received financial support from

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

during the time he founded Radio Islam, and that he also had received some support from Iran. PLO had already broken all contact with, and dissociated from Rami because of his racist and pro-Nazi ideas, some long time before Expressen picked up the story. Radio Islam was off the air from 1993 to 1995, but the program returned in 1996 under Rami's direction, the same year that he established the Radio Islam

. Rami was again convicted and fined by the Swedish court in October 2000. Rami has been investigated for

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

s in France and Sweden for his role in maintaining the ''Radio Islam'' website. The latest investigation ended in 2004 when the Swedish prosecutor was unable to prove that Rami was responsible for the content.

The focus of the Radio Islam

is the alleged influence of

s and "Zionists" on society, and in particular on politics in Western countries and in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. It proposes that there are conspiracies of Jews/"Zionists" to control

Western society Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...

and oppress and/or kill

s (among other groups), and that these actions are a historic feature of both Jews and Judaism (which it describes as ''the Jewish "Religion"''). It considers

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

to be a fraudulent "Zionist" attempt to turn attention away from "the ongoing

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

war waged against the peoples of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and the Middle East". Major topics of the website include "Zionist massacres", "Zionist terrorism", "Jewish Power", "Jewish racism", "Jewish racism against Blacks",

Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...

, "Jewish hypocrisy", "Jewish propaganda", "Jewish war against

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

", and "Jewish war against

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

". Radio Islam's online library contains several complete works, including ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

'' (which ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' describes as a "

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

ulent document that served as a pretext and rationale for

in the early 20th century"),

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's ''

Mein Kampf (; ) is a 1925 Autobiography, autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book outlines many of Political views of Adolf Hitler, Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology and future plans for Nazi Germany, Ge ...

'',

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

's ''

The International Jew ''The International Jew'' is a four-volume set of antisemitic booklets or pamphlets originally published and distributed in the early 1920s by the Dearborn Publishing Company, an outlet owned by Henry Ford, the American industrialist and autom ...

'',

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...

's '' The Thirteenth Tribe'', Israel Shahak's '' Jewish History, Jewish Religion'', and

Roger Garaudy Roger Garaudy (; 17 July 1913 – 13 June 2012) was a French philosopher, French resistance fighter and a communist author. He converted to Islam in 1982. In 1998, he was convicted for several years and fined for Holocaust denial under French law ...

's ''The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics''. Radio Islam and Ahmed Rami had ties to publishings and meetings with the Swedish neo-Nazi party Nationalsocialistisk front (NSF), and Radio Islam as of 2018 still promoted Rami's books sold by the NSF online shop. Rami has been a guest-speaker at least once at NSF's events. Rami also wrote texts for some of the nazi party's books.

Holocaust denial

Radio Islam denies that

took place. Their website describes the Holocaust as a "hoax" fabricated by Zionists, as a pretext for the establishment of an Israeli state.

Criticism

A 2003 report commissioned by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia described Radio Islam as "one of the most radical right wing

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

homepages on the net with close links to

radical Islam Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Is ...

groups", like

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

and

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

, one of a number of "racist and xenophobic sites" which "utilis the

denial Denial, in colloquial English usage, has at least three meanings: * the assertion that any particular statement or allegation, whose truth is uncertain, is not true; * the refusal of a request; and * the assertion that a true statement is fal ...

of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

as a component of anti-Semitic agitation" and "make use of the entire spectrum of anti-Semitic

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

s". The

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...

has described Radio Islam as "a

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

-based

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

outfit" which "contains a treasure trove of antisemitica" and Ahmed Rami as a "key IHR (

Institute for Historical Review The Institute for Historical Review (IHR) is a United States–based nonprofit organization that promotes Holocaust denial. It is considered by many scholars to be central to the international Holocaust denial movement. Self-described as a "his ...

) ally" and "a key promoter of anti-Semitism worldwide". The

Stephen Roth Institute The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a research institute at Tel Aviv University in Israel. It is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters research on issue ...

lists it among a number of "Holocaust denial and/or neo-Nazi pages". The Anti-Defamation League notes that the site "promotes a myriad of anti-Semitic works", and states that it "demonstrates the implicit connection between

and other forms of anti-Semitism".

Per Ahlmark Per Axel Ahlmark (15 January 1939 – 8 June 2018) was a Swedish politician and writer. He was the leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978, and Minister for Employment and Deputy Prime Minister in the Swedish government from 197 ...

, co-founder of the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism, has described Radio Islam as "the most vicious anti-Jewish campaign in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

since the Third Reich."

Namesake Confusion

It bears no relationship to RadioIslam.com, a website live streaming a daily Muslim talk radio program on public affairs. Radio Islam airs in Chicago on WCEV 1450 AM every day from 6-7 PM CST. It is produced by Sound Vision Foundation. Its executive producer is Abdul Malik Mujahid who also chairs the board of

Parliament of the World's Religions There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another c ...

. There are also two other websites bearing the "radioislam" address: radioislam.org.za and radioislam.org.mw, which are based in South Africa and Malawi respectively, and cover matters relating to Islam from their own perspectives. The former location of the website (and previously radio station) referred to on this page – radioislam.org – has been changed to islam-radio.net, presumably to avoid confusion.

Footnotes

"Reflections on Combating Anti-Semitism," in Yaffa Zilbershats, ed., ''The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism'' (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University, n.d.), pp. 59–6

References

External links

Radio Islam website

Ahmed Rami's personal website, and his own publishing company Kultur Förlag

Radio Islam - different website

''Holocaust Denial: Ahmed Rami''
Anti-Defamation League
''Between Friends: U.S. Holocaust deniers help unite neo-Nazis, Arab extremists''

Muslim anti-Semitism: A clear and present danger
(pdf) {{Authority control Anti-Israeli sentiment in Europe Anti-Zionism in Sweden Antisemitic publications Radio in Sweden Islam and antisemitism Holocaust-denying websites Holocaust denial in Sweden Propaganda in Sweden Internet radio stations Islamism in Sweden Islamic radio stations Defunct mass media in Sweden Radio stations established in 1987 Radio stations disestablished in 1996 Antisemitism in Sweden