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31-01-2025
STOCKHOLM: A man who sparked violent protests after burning the Quran has been shot dead in Sweden.
Salwan Momika was killed in an apartment in Sodertalje, Stockholm, on Wednesday evening, prosecutors told media.
Unrest broke out after Momika set fire to a copy of Islam’s holy book outside Stockholm Central Mosque in 2023.
Stockholm police said in a statement that five people had been arrested after a man in his 40s was shot dead overnight.
Officers were called to a suspected shooting at an apartment in Hovsjo around 23:11 local time (22:11 GMT) on Wednesday.
The man, who has not been named by police, was found with gunshot wounds and taken to hospital. The force announced he had died on Thursday morning.
Local media reported that Momika had been livestreaming on social media around the time he was shot.
Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, was charged in August alongside one other with “agitation against an ethnic group” on four occasions in the summer of 2023.
The verdict, due to be delivered on Thursday, was postponed after it was “confirmed that one of the defendants had died”, Stockholm District Court said.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sweden’s security services were involved in the investigation because there was “obviously a risk that there were links to foreign powers,” SVT reported.
Momika carried out a series of anti-Islam protests, sparking outrage in many Muslim-majority countries.
Unrest took place at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice, while the Swedish ambassador was expelled from the city amid a diplomatic row.
Swedish police had given Momika permission for the protest in which he burnt the holy book, in accordance with the country’s free-speech laws.
The government later pledged to explore legal means of abolishing protests that involve burning texts in certain circumstances.
In September 2023, three men have been arrested in connection with a violent riot following a Quran burning in Sweden.
Unrest erupted after an Iraqi anti-Islam activist Salwan Momika set fire to a copy of the Islamic holy book on Sunday.
Police said they detained 10 people for disturbing public order in the city of Malmo.
Several vehicles were set on fire after about hundred people gathered in response to the burning.
Momika set fire to a Quran in Varnhemstorget, a main square in the city on Sunday afternoon. He has previously desecrated the Quran, in a series of anti-Islam protests, and his actions have caused diplomatic outrage across the Middle East.
Officers said they were pelted with stones, while some demonstrators threw electric scooters at police vehicles.
Several police cars were set on fire in Malmo’s Rosengard neighbourhood, which has a a large immigrant population, and has experienced other violent protests in the past.
“I understand that a public gathering like this arouses strong emotions, but we cannot tolerate disturbances and violence like the ones we saw on Sunday afternoon,” Malmo police area commander Petra Stenkula told local media.
“It is extremely regrettable to once again see violence and vandalism at Rosengard.”
Scandinavia has witnessed a spate of Quran burnings this year. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
