Quran-desecrating provocateur Momika shot dead in Sweden, five suspects arrested

Published January 30, 2025
Police carry out operations in Sodertalje, south of Stockholm, on January 30, following the shooting of Quran burner Salwan Momika in an apartment late last night. — Reuters
Police carry out operations in Sodertalje, south of Stockholm, on January 30, following the shooting of Quran burner Salwan Momika in an apartment late last night. — Reuters

An Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam campaigner was shot dead in Sweden hours before he was due to receive a court verdict following a trial over desecrating the Holy Quran, and five people were arrested over the shooting on Thursday.

The five were arrested in connection with the incident late on Wednesday and ordered detained by a prosecutor, Swedish police said on their website. They did not say if the shooter was among those detained.

Salwan Momika, 38, was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm, public broadcaster SVT reported, citing unnamed police sources.

Momika had burned copies of the holy book in public demonstrations in 2023 against Islam.

“I can assure you that the security services are deeply involved because there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a news conference.

A Stockholm court had been due to sentence Momika and another man today in a criminal trial over “offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group”, but said the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.

A police spokesperson confirmed a man was shot dead in Sodertalje, but gave no other details.

The other defendant in the same court case was giving interviews on Thursday and posted a message on X, saying: “I’m next.”

The Security Service said that police were leading the investigation but “we are following the development of events closely to see what impact this may have on Swedish security”, a spokesperson told Reuters.

Swedish media reported that Momika was streaming live on TikTok at the time he was shot.

A video seen by Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a livestream that appeared to be from Momika’s TikTok account.

Sweden in 2023 raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after the acts of desecration, many of them by Momika, outraged Muslims and triggered threats from militants.

While the Swedish government condemned the incidents in 2023, it was initially regarded as a protected form of free speech.

Sweden’s migration agency in 2023 wanted to deport Momika for giving false information on his residency application, but couldn’t as he risked torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.

‘Don’t want to harm’ Sweden

Speaking to the Aftonbladet newspaper in April 2023, Momika said he never intended his acts to cause any trouble in Sweden, where he had lived since 2018.

“I don’t want to harm this country that received me and preserved my dignity,” he said.

In October 2023, the Swedish Migration Agency revoked his residency permit, citing false information in his original application, but he was granted a temporary one as it said there was an “impediment to enforcement” of deportation to Iraq.

The month before, Iraq had requested his extradition over one of the desecration acts.

In March 2024, Momika left Sweden to seek asylum in Norway, telling AFP that Sweden’s freedom of expression and protection of human rights was “a big lie”.

Norway deported him back to Sweden several weeks later.

Before arriving in Sweden, Momika’s social media accounts tell a story of an erratic political career in Iraq.

It included links to a Christian armed faction during the fight against the militant Islamic State group, the creation of an obscure Syriac political party, rivalries with influential Christian paramilitaries and a brief arrest.

He also joined the massive anti-corruption protests that gripped Iraq in late 2019, which were met with a crackdown that killed over 600 people nationwide.

In October 2023, a Swedish court convicted another man of inciting ethnic hatred with a 2020 Quran desecration, the first time the country’s court system had tried the charge for desecrating the holy book.

Prosecutors have previously said that under Swedish law, the burning of the Holy Quran can be seen as a critique of the book and the religion, and thus be protected under free speech.

However, depending on the context and statements made at the time, it can also be considered “agitation against an ethnic group”.

Opinion

Revival? For whom?

Revival? For whom?

Numerous sets of numbers, not quoted by govt sources, suggest that things are not as dazzling as claimed by those who run the country.

Editorial

Premature alarm
Updated 20 Feb, 2025

Premature alarm

Improvement in headline inflation gives policymakers chance to fix investment policies, implement structural reforms.
Forsaken province
20 Feb, 2025

Forsaken province

AND the endless cycle of violence continues. The brutal killing on Tuesday night of seven Punjab-bound passengers in...
In poor health
20 Feb, 2025

In poor health

THE absence of decent and affordable healthcare in the country continues to ruin lives. An example of this is ...
Out of control
Updated 19 Feb, 2025

Out of control

AS bodies continue to fall in Kurram despite a state-sanctioned ceasefire, one wonders how long local militants’...
Hollow words
19 Feb, 2025

Hollow words

IT is not uncommon for politicians to resort to the use of hyperbole in order to boost their public standing. ...
Migration matters
19 Feb, 2025

Migration matters

THE grass, it seems, did appear greener on the other side to millions of people as evidenced by the latest UN ...