The channel’s representatives disclosed the development during a January 12 news broadcast. According to editor Dikran Ego, the bank Svenska Enskilda Banken, SEB, has suspended the station’s access to its accounts.
"We have around half a million of funds now frozen that we cannot access", Ego said during the broadcast, referring to approximately 500,000 Swedish kronor currently unavailable to the organization.
Assyria TV, which operates from Södertälje and primarily serves the Assyrian community in Sweden and the diaspora since 2007, is largely financed through individual donations, supplemented to some extent by advertising revenue. The channel has for years provided news coverage, cultural programming and community debates in both Assyrian and Swedish, and has positioned itself as an independent voice within the community.
According to the channel, SEB has justified the suspension by citing the presence of donors from outside Sweden. In recent years, Swedish banks have significantly tightened their compliance routines in response to stricter European Union anti money laundering and counter terrorist financing legislation. The regulatory framework obliges banks to conduct extensive due diligence on customers, particularly associations and organizations that receive cross border payments. Failure to comply can result in heavy fines and reputational damage.
The tougher regulatory climate has affected a broad range of civil society organizations across Sweden and the wider European Union. Numerous associations, NGOs and small community based initiatives have reported account closures, frozen funds or prolonged reviews when attempting to open or maintain bank accounts. The issue has been especially visible among immigrant communities, where cross border donations and international networks are common.
In Södertälje, a town south of Stockholm with one of the largest Assyrian populations in Europe, several Assyrian business owners and associations have in recent years reported difficulties with banks, including sudden account terminations. The developments have fueled concerns within the community about collective suspicion and disproportionate scrutiny.
Ozcan Kaldoyo, a Swedish Assyrian activist who has closely followed the issue, accused authorities, including Södertälje municipality, of contributing to what he described as a witch hunt against Assyrian businesses and associations. He argued that the pattern of closures and restrictions risks undermining trust between institutions and the community.
For Assyria TV, the immediate concern is operational survival. "Given the situation, we no longer know how much longer we can maintain our operations", Ego said, underscoring the uncertainty facing the media outlet.
