The Social Democrats knew that Jamal El-Haj tried to influence an asylum case, says the party’s group leader in the Riksdag Lena Hallengren to TV4 Nyheterna.
– It’s always a little more complicated than explaining it in one sentence.
On Monday, Riksdag member Jamal El-Haj announced that he is leaving the Social Democrats and will remain in the Riksdag as a political savage.
The announcement comes after the Social Democrats announced at the end of last week that they no longer have confidence in El-Haj. The Malmö politician has long been criticized for his participation in a controversial Palestine conference last spring, and on Friday Expressen revealed that El-Haj tried to influence an asylum case concerning a radical imam.
Hallengren: “Have known about this”
Now the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group leader Lena Hallengren admits that they knew that El-Haj tried to influence an asylum case in 2017.
– We have known about this. It’s always a bit more complicated than explaining it in one sentence, but the version Jamal El-Haj gave was not the same version we had before, says Lena Hallengren.
But you were informed that he had tried to influence an officer about a residence permit for an imam who praises the Muslim Brotherhood?
– The answer is no then, when you describe it that way.
But that he had entered an asylum case, did you know that?
– That is another matter, and it has not been a secret. But the totality as you describe it, it was not known.