In a shocking decision, a Swedish Court recently refused to allow the deportation of an immigrant convicted of raping a 16-year-old Swedish girl, citing that the “duration of the offence” was not long enough to qualify as an “exceptionally serious offence”.
Attracting severe criticism, the court declined the request for the deportation of 19-year-old Eritrean refugee Yazied Mohamed, who raped 16-year-old Meya Åberg. “Given the nature and duration of the offence, while serious, it does not constitute an exceptionally serious offence warranting deportation,” the court reportedly said.
The incident happened on September 1, 2024, when Åberg was walking to her house through a pedestrian tunnel in Skelleftea after she missed her bus following a shift at McDonald’s. Spotting Åberg, Mohamed attacked her, snatched her phone, dragged her into a tunnel and raped her until she broke free from his grip. Åberg and her family immediately reported the crime, but Mohamed was let free by the authorities, citing a “lack of evidence”. Åberg reportedly spotted Mohamed again on her first day back to school after the incident, adding to her trauma and fear. It was only after an appeal by the prosecution against Mohamed’s release that he was finally convicted.
Mohamed was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay 240,000 Swedish kronor (€21,975) to the victim. However, the court rejected the prosecution’s plea for the deportation of Mohamed.
Victim afraid of stepping out of her house alone
The horrifying incident has deeply affected Meya Åberg, who is even afraid to step out of the house alone. “I want to say that I hate him and that he has destroyed me,” she was quoted by local media as saying.
"He destroyed me": 16-year-old Meija Åberg in an interview with Norran, describing a traumatic rape, its aftermath, and lifelong scars.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 23, 2025
Mohamed, an 18-year-old Eritrean migrant, raped Meija and avoided deportation after a Swedish court ruled the rape didn’t last long enough. pic.twitter.com/wt2MeYi9Cb
Apparently, the Swedish law allows the deportation of an immigrant if the crime committed is “exceptionally serious” and poses a public safety risk. This is the reason that violent migrants can evade deportation if offences committed by them, no matter how grave, fall short of qualifying as “exceptionally serious” offences.
The present case is not the only instance when a migrant worker managed to avoid deportation despite committing a serious crime like rape. In July 2025, another Eritrean migrant, with 196 criminal charges, was also reportedly spared deportation because of the same law. The offences committed by him, which included assaults on police and inmates, were considered not sufficient to warrant deportation. Similarly, in 2022, four Eritrean men who gang-raped a woman were also not deported. According to a 2018 report, 58 per cent of all rapes or attempted rapes in the preceding 5 years were committed by foreigners.
