Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant who set off protests in Sweden and several Muslim countries when he burned a Quran in Stockholm in 2023, has been killed, the Swedish Prosecution Authority stated Thursday morning.
The police stated that they’d arrested 5 individuals and {that a} homicide investigation had been launched.
Mr. Momika had been set to look in Stockholm District Courtroom on Thursday morning. He was scheduled to obtain a verdict on expenses associated to the Quran burning that prompted worldwide outrage in 2023, and to different demonstrations later that yr at which he repeated the act.
The taking pictures occurred late on Wednesday in Sodertalje, a metropolis close to Stockholm.
The authorities didn’t say in the event that they believed the killing was related to Mr. Momika’s burning of the Quran, however Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, stated that the nation’s safety service was wanting into the killing.
“There may be clearly a threat that there’s additionally a reference to a international energy,” Mr. Kristersson told reporters. Mr. Momika’s protection lawyer, Anna Roth, stated he had acquired loss of life threats.
“He was fairly satisfied that he would in the end be killed,” Ms. Roth stated in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Mr. Momika had set the Quran ablaze throughout Eid al-Adha, a significant Islamic vacation, outdoors a mosque in Stockholm. He was born and raised a Christian, however later stated he was an atheist, Ms. Roth stated. By burning the Quran, he stated that he was making an attempt to boost consciousness in regards to the mistreatment and killing of Christian minorities by Islamists in some elements of the Muslim world.
“I’m warning the Swedish individuals in regards to the risks of this e-book,” Mr. Momika had stated by means of a megaphone outdoors the mosque.
The response from the Muslim world was swift and livid, with a lot of the criticism aimed on the Swedish authorities for not stopping the burning.
In Iraq, a number of hundred individuals stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad and set elements of it ablaze. Iraq expelled Sweden’s ambassador and directed its ambassador to Sweden to withdraw from its embassy in Stockholm.
Egypt known as the Quran burning “a disgraceful act.” And Morocco recalled its ambassador in Sweden, its state news agency reported.
The Swedish authorities had condemned Mr. Momika’s actions on the time, however the police granted a allow for his deliberate demonstration after a Swedish court docket dominated that banning it could impinge on the precise to freedom of speech.
The allow, nevertheless, didn’t enable him to burn objects, and Mr. Momika was subsequently charged with agitation in opposition to an ethnic or nationwide group in 4 incidents of kicking, stamping on and burning a Quran. He additionally made speeches with derogatory statements directed in opposition to Muslims and Islam, in accordance with the indictment.
“The truth that statements are made in a big sq. and disseminated is a prerequisite for incitement to racial hatred,” stated Anna Hankkio, a Swedish prosecutor who initially introduced the costs in opposition to Mr. Momika. “It’s as much as the district court docket to evaluate whether or not the burning of the Quran may also be thought-about incitement in opposition to a bunch of individuals.”
Later that summer time, Mr. Momika once more burned Qurans, in accordance with the indictment.
The Quran burnings — and the ensuing horror and outrage from the Muslim world — sparked debates in Sweden, which has struggled with whether or not to permit such protests.
Earlier than Mr. Momika burned the holy e-book, Swedish authorities had denied different anti-Quran protests, citing issues about disruption to public order. After the burning, Sweden’s international ministry known as Mr. Momika’s motion Islamophobic, and officers warned that such protests might have an effect on the nation’s nationwide safety coverage. The home safety company briefly raised its terrorism risk to its most extreme designation.
Salwan Najem, who joined Mr. Momika in some protests and was additionally accused of burning a Quran, was a co-defendant within the case that was to be selected Thursday. He’s now set to obtain his verdict on Feb. 3.
On Thursday, Mr. Najem expressed worry, posting a link on X to a narrative about Mr. Momika’s killing.
“I’m subsequent,” he wrote.
