Alexandra Mezher was stabbed to death at a refugee centre where she was working

A teenage asylum seeker has been arrested over the alleged murder of Swedish refugee centre worker Alexandra Mezher.

Miss Mezher was stabbed and killed yesterday while working at the centre for unaccompanied minors where he was staying in the town of Molndal.

The 22-year-old victim, who was originally from Lebanon, was rushed to a nearby hospital but died of her wounds, police said.

Police would not comment on the identity or nationality of the alleged attacker, except to say that he was a young man who was a resident of the centre for 14- to 17-year-olds.


He was under arrest for murder after being held down by other workers from the centre until police arrived.

She was murdered at the migrant centre in Molndal, Sweden (Picture: EPA)

Miss Mezher’s cousin told Swedish press: ‘It is so terrible. She was a person who wanted to do good, who wanted to be good.



‘And then he murdered her when she was doing her job. We have cried a lot. She was such a nice person, warm and happy.’

He added that it was ‘Swedish politicians’ fault’.

‘These kinds of calls are becoming more and more common. We’re dealing with more incidents like these since the arrival of so many more refugees from abroad,’ police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg said.

A teenager was pinned down by staff at the centre until police arrived (Picture: AP)

The attack came as National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson on Monday requested 4,100 additional officers and support staff to help fight terrorism, carry out migrant deportations and police asylum accommodations.

‘We are forced to respond to many disturbances in asylum reception centres. In some places, this takes significant police resources. This was not the case six months ago and it means that we won’t be able to respond as effectively in other areas,’ Eliasson told Swedish news agency TT.

Sweden, like the rest of Europe, has been struggling with the continent’s biggest migration crisis since World War II.

A country of 9.8 million, Sweden took in more than 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, which put it among the EU states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.

It has since tightened its asylum rules to curb the migrant flow.