Salwan Momika, the Iraqi citizen known for burning the Quran multiple times in Sweden, was killed on Wednesday January 29 at 11 pm in the town of Södertälje, southwest of Stockholm, Sweden, local media reported.
He was live on TikTok when several people attacked and killed him, with part of the crime suspected to have been broadcast live.
According to Swedish media reports, police were alerted to the shooting and arrested five suspects, including the killer. The deceased was not identified immediately. Stockholm police said in a statement that five people had been arrested after a man in his 40s was shot dead overnight.
Stockholm District Court said the verdict, due to be delivered on Thursday, was postponed after it was "confirmed that one of the defendants had died," the BBC reported.
Momika's burning the Quran had sparked strong reactions globally, with the Swedish government acknowledging an increased terrorist threat. However, his scheduled sentence was not related to the Quran burning, but to insulting ethnic groups during the incident.
Momika, an Iraqi Christian, was leading a Christian group while in Iraq affiliated with pro-Iran paramilitary of Popular Mobilization Forces PMF known as Hashdi Shaabi.
Last October, Momika's permanent residence permit has been cancelled in Sweden which has decided to deport him, but Momika was not deported to Iraq and the decision was not related to burning a copy of the Holy Qur’an.
On October 26, the Sweden Migration Agency announced the withdrawal of the residence permit of Salwan Momika, the Iraqi refugee residing in Sweden, because he had given false information to the institution regarding his asylum application.
On October 27, the spokesman for the Sweden Migration Agency, Jesper Tengroth, told the Foreign Languages Department of Swedish Radio that “Momika’s deportation is not because he burned a copy of the Qur’an and not because he poses a threat to Sweden’s security, but because he submitted false statements to the Migration Agency.”
He stressed that the institution "obtained new information about Momika during summer, so it was decided to withdraw his residence permit and deport him from Sweden."
Last June, a man who identified himself in the Swedish media as a refugee from Iraq, burned a copy of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, outside a mosque in central Stockholm. Swedish police have allowed his actions, citing freedom of speech.
The Iraqi government demanded that Sweden extradite Momika for prosecution in Iraq because he had burned a copy of the Holy Quran. The request arrived in Sweden via Interpol on July 18th, 2024.
