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

An Iraqi and Anti-Islam refugee activist was shot dead in Sweden hours before he should receive a judicial verdict after a trial on the desecration of the Sacred Koran, and five people were arrested for the shooting on Thursday.

The five were arrested in relation to the incident on Wednesday night and ordered arrested by a prosecutor, said the Swedish police on their website. They did not say if the shooter was among the detainees.

Salwan Momika, 38, was shot in a house in the city of Sodertalje near Stockholm, said the Public SVT SVT, citing unidentified police sources.

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

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

A Stockholm Court was due to Momika’s judgment and another man today in a criminal trial for “crimes of agitation against an ethnic or national group”, but said that the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.

A police spokesman confirmed that a man was shot dead in sodertalje, but did not give other details.

The other defendant in the same judicial case was giving interviews on Thursday and published a message in X, saying: “I am the next.”

The security service said that the police led the investigation, but “we are following the development of close events to see what impact this can have on Swedish security,” said a spokesman. Reuters.

The Swedish media reported that Momika was broadcasting live on Tiktok at the time they shot him.

A video seen by Reuters He showed the police collecting a phone and ending a live broadcast that seemed to be from Momika’s Tiktok account.

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

While the Swedish government condemned the incidents in 2023, initially it was considered a protected form of freedom of expression.

The Sweden Migration Agency in 2023 wanted to deport Momika for giving false information about her residence application, but could not, since she risked torture and inhuman treatment in Iraq.

‘I don’t want to damage’ Sweden

Talking to him Affected Newspaper in April 2023, Momika said he never intended for his acts to cause problems in Sweden, where he had lived since 2018.

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

In October 2023, the Swedish Migration Agency revoked its residence permit, citing false information in its original application, but a storm was granted, since it said there was an “impediment to the application” of deportation to Iraq.

The previous month, Iraq had requested his extradition about one of the desecration laws.

In March 2024, Momika left Sweden to look for asylum in Norway, saying AFP That the freedom of expression and protection of Sweden of human rights was “a great 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 with a Christian armed faction during the fight against the militant group of the Islamic State, the creation of a dark Syrian political party, rivalries with influential Christian paramilitaries and a brief arrest.

He also joined the huge anti -corruption protests that seized Iraq at the end of 2019, who found a repression that killed more than 600 people throughout the country.

In October 2023, a Swedish court condemned another man for inciting ethnic hatred with a desecration of the Qur’an of 2020, the first time that the country’s court system had tried the position for desecrating the sacred book.

Prosecutors have previously said that, according to Swedish law, the burning of the Sacred Koran can be seen as a criticism of the book and religion, and thus be protected by freedom of expression.

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



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