Updated 21.41 | Published 21.36
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full screen Here at the coffee table in Alsike monastery, sister Karin and her friend used to talk about everything and nothing. Photo: Magnus Wennman
ALSIKE. The two women became good friends over 30 years ago.
One is a nun.
The other became the mother of one of Sweden’s most notorious gang criminals – which resulted in her death.
– It is so diabolical to do this, says Sister Karin about the murder.
On September 6 last year, the 58-year-old woman was shot to death in her home in Uppsala.
She was standing by an open window in the living room when she was struck by the fatal shot.
The woman was the mother of Ismail Abdo, or “Strawberry” as he was called and who ended up in conflict with Rawa Majid “Kurdish Fox”.
The murder of Strawberry’s mother triggered a spiral of violence that can be said to be unprecedented in Swedish criminal history.
“A safe and warm person”
Sister Karin in Alsike monastery outside Uppsala is shaken by the murder.
The nuns in the monastery have helped refugees and other vulnerable people since the 1960s. Sister Karin has lived here since 1983. In the late 80s, she met the woman who became a close friend.
– She and her family came from Lebanon during the war. It was a broken and tattered family, but they were full of love, warmth and generosity, says sister Karin to the podcast Aftonbladet Krim.
Sister Karin describes her friend as a deeply religious Muslim, and as a mother who did everything for her children.
– She was a great role model. A warm, kind-hearted, well-adjusted Swedish immigrant.
Kept in touch throughout the years
After living for a time at Alsike monastery, the family settled in Sweden. They built up a business where they traded fruit and vegetables.
The family never forgot the nuns who helped them during the first time in Sweden. They have kept in touch over the years and have shown their gratitude in various ways.
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full screenSister Karin misses her friend. “She was a warm and loving woman.” Photo: Magnus Wennman
– They often came here and shared their vegetables. We used to eat together and talk about everything and nothing, says sister Karin.
Sister Karin describes the family as hard-working and law-abiding people.
But the son Ismail chose a different path. He became the “Strawberry”, known as the right-hand man of the gang leader Kurdish Fox.
– I don’t really know him at all, I only remember him from when he was little. After he went awry, he stayed away, the family had very little contact with him. They had nothing to do with his criminality, says Karin.
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full screen After the murder of the mother, mourners left flowers outside. Photo: Nils Petter Nilsson
Murdered in his home
But Ismail Abdo’s criminal activities would still hit his family hard.
According to the indictment, the murder in September is part of the gang war between different phalanxes in what the police call the Foxtrot network.
Two young guys, 15 and 20 years old, are charged with the crime.
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full screenThe defendants in a surveillance image after the murder. Photo: The police
Last meeting at the funeral
Sister Karin met her friend for the last time a couple of months earlier, when Sister Marianne was buried.
Then the woman came with a couple of her children and honored the memory of the old nun who received them over 30 years ago.
– This is so sad from start to finish. That some idiot is sitting somewhere and assigns lost teenagers to go to a completely different town and shoot an elderly woman dead.
That the friend’s son became a gang criminal is, according to sister Karin, a symptom of deep problems in society.
– In Sweden today, this can happen in the best families. We can’t have it so that teenagers turn to deep criminals. We in society have to step in and give them other role models. It doesn’t help with prisons.
The latest episode of the Aftonbladet Krim podcast is about the murder of Ismail “Strawberry” Abdo’s mother and what happened afterwards.