The Swedish title of the book is “Förortssnuten” which has been translated to English as “Suburban snout”. These unbiased reviews on the book clarify that Hanif Azizi’s book is not a book on politics. Google Reads states:
Hanif Azizi grew up on a military base in the Iraqi desert. His parents are warriors for the Iranian rebel movement Mujahedin of the People and the fight against Khomeini permeates his entire life. After his father is killed in the war, nine-year-old Hanif takes his little brother by the hand and begins an escape that eventually takes him to Sweden. He has a hard time adjusting to the new country and in his teens he gets in touch with the terrorist-branded rebel movement again. Attracted by fellowship and a possible reunion with his mother, he goes to Iraq to become a warrior in the People’s Mujahedin.

The story could have ended here, but something happens that makes life turn around. Instead, Hanif returns to Sweden – and trains as a police officer.
He is looking for a job in Rinkeby, and will soon be involved in things he never thought could happen in Sweden.
Suburban Snot is a reality-based story about escape, exclusion, radicalization and life in Swedish areas of exclusion. It is a story about friendship, cohesion and about a police force that is faced with a brutality it cannot handle.

Ksena a user on Good Reads rated the book “really liked it” and wrote:
Recommends it for: Anyone!

Shelves: painful, lovely, dramatic, biographical, nonfiction-facts, read-for-work, important, favorites
This was… a really good book. And an important one. AND! Much more than I first had anticipated.
I expected a story about a Swedish cop being a refugee originally or from such a family, and working in a Vulnerable area. And I do get that. But not only.
He grew up his first 9 years in the organization Peoples Mujahedin of Iran. But was then sent away to an uncertain future with alone. Just him and his little brother. 9 and 6 years old.
It’s interesting how he has written this book about his life. Every other chapter is about his life as a cop. And every other chapter is about how he grew up and survived just him and his little brother with various adults around them, both good and bad.
It’s both tragic and inspiring. Especially when he does finally meet his mother again as a young adult and almost joins the Mujahedin organization… It makes it so clear how young men so easily can be so easily manipulated to join extremist organizations.
Now he didn’t, he grew up mentally, returned to Sweden and ended up being a cop through various roads of life. And works in areas in Sweden where crime-rates are high and honor culture are way to common. And he is using his past to help as much he can.
It’s an inspiring story. It would have been cool to meet this man, and especially to have the teens and kids in the school I work in. I think it would have done them good.
I’m glad to have read this book. Even though the language was a bit weak here and there (hence not max-rating), over all it was an amazing story!

Another user Katerina Dashti rated it “liked it” and wrote:
“He is not welcome here (Han är inte välkommen hit). ”
This book happened to be on my to-read list due to several reasons. First, it has been much discussed in Swedish social median and book societies. Second, this is the topic that is very important for my new Swedish family and it was very interesting to read other people view about it.
This is a story of Iranian boy, who grow up in a military base in the Iraqi desert where his parents joined the Iranian rebel movement in the fight against political regim in Iran. After death of his father, Hanif and his brother start their journey for a better life that eventually takes them both to Sweden. This is a story about difficulties to adjust to the new country and how different situation can be experienced by two brothers. The story has a twist and instead of leaving for Iraq to reunion with his mother and join the People of Mujahedin, he decides to become a police officer in Sweden and work in one of the problematic areas in Rinkeby.

The story is presented in two parts. On the one hand, it is a story of a little boy who goes through really tough moments that undoubtably affected his life and views. On the other hand, it is a story of a police officer working in one of the most criminal areas in Sweden and facing loads of brutality that is hard to handle.
This is announced to be a reality-based story about escape, exclusion, radicalization and life in Sweden. Yet it turned to be more a one-sided story, that perhaps is a part of author’s getting well and accepting himself process. The part of the police officer story was really interesting as it focused on emotional aspects and challenges and possible ways (or lack of them) to deal with them. In addition, it was interesting to read about some tragical events in Sweden from the insider perspective. The biographic part of the growing up boy and information presented raised numerous questions. Thus, I would recommend to see the book more as a fiction story with some connections to the reality than as the reality based one. In other words, this book is a great example case where one should read consciously and remember about the danger of a single story.
Book is in Swedish and translation in English is not available. The language is easy and advanced language skills are not required.

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Iraq, 1988: Hanif is six years old and the weapon in his hand is heavy. With all his might, he manages to lift the Kalashnikov over his head in a victory movement. His teacher laughs and the children around him cheer. It is a regular school day at the Camp Ashraf military base in the Iraqi desert. – The fight against Ayatollah Khomeini permeated our lives and marked my entire childhood. That was what life was all about, and the battle came before anything else. Another memory: He draws a drawing for his mother Zohreh, which depicts an automatic weapon surrounded by red stars. He gets the highest grade and the art teacher says his mother will be proud.
Dad died in battle

After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini took power. He created an Islamic state and changed Iran from base. Hanif’s parents agreed to fight in the resistance movement People’s Mujahedin and settled in neighboring Iraq. Hanif’s father lost his life in the battle. A common question among children at the military base was: “Are your parents alive?” We were many who answered no to that question. We shared the suffering together, and somehow it made the loss less painful. It is said that if one “have not lost a parent, you are not a real Mujahedin child. It sounds absurd, but that’s the way it is,” Hanif said.
He remembers the great desert and the great gray tanks that were donated by Saddam Hussein. He remembers the cohesion, and despite being aware of the struggles, he was rarely scared as a child. But as the conflict escalated, risks increased, and Hanif’s mother, like many others in the rebel movement, decided to send her children away.

– She could have followed, but for her the fight was more important than us. Hanif was given responsibility for his little brother He was nine years old and carried a bag in black imitation leather. The bus was covered in mud to camouflage it, thus reducing the risk of bombings. – The memory of my mother’s words has etched itself, she looked serious and said that I was grown up enough to take care of my little brother so as I had the responsibility for my little brother. When I waved to her, I did not know that it would not see each other gain. I remember holding my little brother’s hard in my hand tightly. The two brothers ended up in Sweden and eventually in Norrköping. Hanif did everything to fit in to take care of himself. But his father’s death and flight to Sweden had affected him deeply.

– I had a hard time focusing and for the first time began to question the way we had lived. The grief made me become something of a mess and I made quite a fuss. I was seen as a problem wherever I went, and with each adversity the hole and emptiness within me grew larger. I was a strange bird that did not fit in anywhere. He felt outside and alone, and in his teens, the feelings got worse. – I had long tried to distance myself from the movement and did not want to be reminded of my past. I tried instead to become as Swedish as possible. But it did not work, I remained stranger. He missed his mother, his roots, a connection.

The missing pulled him back to Iraq When the Mujahedin of the People reached out, I took it. I was recruited to become a warrior and join the fight. On a subtle level, room for maneuver was limited and there was a form of radicalization and brainwashing that I was exposed to. I was not lured into the movement, but slowly my thoughts were reworked to fit their purpose. There was also a warmth that was so existentially comfortable that I continued to be a part of the movement.

Human Rights Watch claimed in a report in 2005 that the movement was a sect, and it was until 2009 that the movement was removed from the EU’s list of terrorist organizations. But Hanif was attracted by the community and by resuming contact with his mother. – I was like a ticking bomb, full of emotions that could explode at any moment. Everything was clear. He had to travel to fight for the Mujahedin. But one detail, a broken passport, put an end to his plans. – In hindsight, I have realized that the incident gave me a relief and I got a chance to stop and think. I understood that I was looking for an identity and not for a place in the struggle. How did you realize that? – I have thought about it a lot and often get questions about it. But there is no easy answer, rather several factors. Part of it, I think, was that I had a strong desire to become Swedish and saw myself as a Swedish.

Hanif’s life can make a difference for young people in the same situation
Hanif’s life took a new turn and he trained as a policeman. Today he works in Rinkeby and often meets people who are outside society, but also in different phases of radicalization. – There is no point in preaching about the right path, I have realized this through my story, but you can reach the young people in a different way. They can feel that I am not just talking, but that I understand. He no longer has any contact with his mother, and the bitterness of his mother leaving her children was for a long time the dominant feeling in him. – It’s a trauma that has left its mark on me. A part of me will always be an abandoned child. Now I have turned my back on my past to be able to move on and it is a sadness but somehow it has also given me an inner peace. I have found my place and it is here in Sweden.

udeoghjemme.dk , Translated by Nejat Society

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– Mother said “You are nine years old, you are old enough to take care of your little brother now”. “Yes mom,” I replied.

The plan was that later in life he would return and fight for the terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq.

Trauma, fear, lack of trust, grief and hatred are something a child gets who is sent away in that way, Hanif says.

They told me that my father was a hero

– When I came to Sweden, I had to live with a Persian family who were also traumatized. Some days we did not get food and my clothes were not washed. At school I was teased, “Hanif go from here, you stink”.

Hanif Azizi

The staff at Hanif’s school asked many questions and they made concerns. Thanks to that, he got to come to a new family. The actions of the leisure staff came to change Hanif’s entire life.

Although Hanif was doing well with his foster parents, it was something that weighed heavily on him, even though he could not put his finger on what it was. One day Hanif got a phone call from his biological mother that lasted for about an hour, she told him, among other things, that he had to visit Mujahedin’s office in Stockholm.

– They told me that my father was a hero, and that they fought with him. From not being anything, I became something.

Hanif was confused and did not feel that he belonged anywhere. He was desperately looking for an identity and had big questions about life. What was the point of that? He had low self-esteem, felt excluded and did not know exactly what he wanted to do with his life. But he wanted to make a difference, he wanted to find belonging and he wanted to be a hero.

When Hanif was 19, he went to Iraq to visit his mother and was manipulated by the Mujahedin.

– They took advantage of the fact that I had been discriminated against in Sweden to get me to join them. “Why should you be in Sweden, they do not give you a job. For them, you are just a black skull.”

Hanif decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a soldier. But he first wanted to go back to Sweden and say goodbye to his family.

Back home in Sweden, he felt that the heavy backpack he was carrying became lighter, perhaps because he had met his mother.

– When I told my foster parents, my mother said “This is not you, these are not your words. You have been brainwashed”.

After visiting the family, Hanif discovered that his passport was broken, so it took some time before he could return to Iraq.

– It was summer and nice weather, I hiked, ate ice cream and hung out with those who loved me. I realized that I was living my dream life, I had dreamed of coming to Sweden. I decided to make a comeback in Swedish society and today I am a police officer, says Hanif Azizi.

Linda Eliasson,folkbladet.nu

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