Imenella Mohamed recounts control and fear in relationship

Artist Imenella Mohamed says her relationship quickly became marked by control, threats and fear. She shares her experience in SVT’s new series, “Du måste gå” (“You have to leave”), which features more than 50 women and men discussing psychological abuse.

Mohamed says her partner tried to control what she wore and whom she spent time with, and had sudden aggressive outbursts. On one occasion, she says, he smashed a car window. He then told her it was because he loved her so much and blamed her for making him act that way.

“I wanted to avoid his anger at any cost. My whole existence became about walking on eggshells,” Mohamed says in the programme. She says she was frightened, but that part of her interpreted his behaviour as a sign that someone loved her deeply.

Psychological abuse was not a criminal offence at the time, and Mohamed did not report her partner. “There was nothing to report. He didn’t hit me,” she says.

According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, 30 per cent of women and nearly 19 per cent of men in Sweden have experienced psychological abuse at some point in their lives.

More than 500 reports since new law

Psychological abuse became a criminal offence on 1 July 2026, carrying a sentence of between one month and four years in prison. By 30 September, police had received 520 reports related to the offence, according to SVT’s review. Most were still under investigation, while 210 had been closed.

SVT reviewed judgments from all district courts and found two convictions for psychological abuse. Both people were also convicted of other offences. In two further cases, defendants were acquitted of the psychological abuse charge.

Prosecutor Sofia Bryngelsson says the change in the law addresses some gaps in existing legislation on unlawful threats. The offence can cover threats such as making someone homeless or undocumented, or threatening to share information about them, she says.

Only suspected offences committed on or after 1 July 2026 can be investigated as psychological abuse.