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full screen Jamal El-Haj (S) during Thursday’s question time in the Riksdag. The next day, he was asked by his party district to leave the parliamentary assignment. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT
The Social Democrat Jamal El-Haj from Malmö has not yet announced whether he will go to the party meeting and leave his position as member of the Riksdag.
– From what I have heard, no one has received information from, or had contact with, Jamal El-Haj, says Anders Malmström, press contact in Skåne’s party district.
It was on Friday that the leadership in the party district put their foot down and called on El-Haj to leave his parliamentary seat. Reason: El-Haj has used up his trust.
Earlier that day, Expressen revealed that El-Haj tried to influence the Swedish Migration Agency in an asylum case in favor of an imam. The imam is said to have lectured in an extremist-linked mosque in Skåne together with two Salafist preachers.
Last spring, El-Haj was also forced to take a break from several parliamentary assignments after participating in a Palestinian conference in Malmö. He had been dissuaded from participation after information about speakers connected to Hamas.
Party leader Magdalena Andersson also distanced herself from El-Haj and his actions on Saturday.
– It has damaged the party, she said.
How El-Haj intends to do – leave the Riksdag mission or remain a political savage – remains to be seen.
– It was a dramatic message he received on Friday and I can imagine that it will take a good while to digest everything, says Anders Malmström.
TT has searched for El-Haj without success.