(Adnkronos) – Swedish police have arrested five suspects in connection with the murder of Salwan Momika, a 38-year-old Iraqi Christian who burned the Koran on several occasions in the Scandinavian country in 2023, sparking a wave of protests in Muslim-majority states. “Police stopped five people overnight. Prosecutors arrested them,” a Swedish law enforcement statement said.
Momika, 38, was shot dead last night in an apartment in the Sodertlaje area, a suburb southwest of Stockholm. According to several Swedish media outlets, Momika was live on social media and his murder may have been filmed. Police said they were investigating this possible development.
The man, along with another anti-Islam activist, Salwan Najem, had in one instance desecrated a Koran in front of Stockholm’s main mosque. Following those episodes – four in the summer of 2023 – relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries deteriorated. In July of that year, the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was stormed twice, the second time with fires set inside the complex.
Momika – who arrived in Sweden in 2018 and was granted a three-year residence permit in 2021 – defended his gesture, claiming he was targeting the Islamic religion, not Muslims, adding that he wanted to protect the Swedish population from the messages of the Koran. Swedish police allowed his demonstrations, citing freedom of speech.
In August 2023, the Swedish secret service Sapo raised the threat level to four out of five since the Koran burnings had made the country a “priority target”.
The Stockholm court’s verdict on charges of incitement to ethnic hatred against Momika was expected today. The announcement was postponed until Feb. 3 “following confirmation of Mr. Momika’s death,” the Stockholm District Court explained.
