Swedish official under probe over social media post associating Muslim call to prayer with terrorism

Prosecutors are investigating a top city official in southern Sweden over Islamophobic remarks he made on social media.

Christopher Larsson, vice mayor of the southern coastal city of Karlskrona, is accused of committing a hate crime in a post he shared on social media last year.

On Facebook, arguing that Karlskrona should not allow the adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer, to be broadcast over speakers, Larsson wrote: "Allahu Akbar will echo through the skies of Karlskrona in the same way Islamists shout it when blowing themselves up."

Magnus Manhammar, a Social Democratic Party MP, filed the criminal complaint against Larsson, and local daily Blekinge Lans reported that the regional prosecutor's office began an investigation.

Larsson, a member of the conservative Swedish Democrats, argued that he had not insulted Islam or Muslims.

Hate crimes against mosques and Muslims have been on the rise across Europe in recent years, fueled in part by the success of anti-immigrant, Islamophobic groups in gaining political power.