A man who gained notoriety for repeatedly burning the Quran in Sweden, Salwan Momika, has been reportedly shot dead.
Naija News understands that Momika’s action in 2023 provoked a significant backlash from Muslim nations.
A court in Stockholm was scheduled to deliver a verdict on Thursday regarding Momika, a Christian Iraqi accused of inciting ethnic hatred through his actions at various protests where he burned Qurans.
However, the ruling has been postponed until February 3, as the court indicated that additional time was necessary due to Momika’s death, which was reportedly confirmed by the Police.
According to AFP, Authorities stated they were notified of a shooting incident in Södertälje, where Momika resided.
The shooting took place indoors, and upon arrival, Police discovered a man who had sustained gunshot wounds and was subsequently transported to a hospital.
Later, Police confirmed the man’s death and initiated a murder investigation. Multiple media outlets have identified the deceased as Momika, with reports suggesting that the shooting may have been streamed live on social media.
In August, Momika and fellow protester Salwan Najem faced charges of “agitation against an ethnic group” for their actions on four separate occasions during the summer of 2023.
The charges detailed how the pair desecrated the Quran, including instances of burning it, while making offensive comments about Muslims, including one incident outside a mosque in Stockholm.
The protests led to heightened tensions between Sweden and several countries in the Middle East, with Iraqi demonstrators storming the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on two occasions in July 2023, igniting fires within the embassy grounds during the second incident.
In August of that year, Sweden’s intelligence service, Säpo, raised its threat level to four on a scale of five after the Quran burnings made the country a “prioritised target.”
The Swedish government condemned the desecrations while emphasizing the importance of the nation’s constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
In October 2023, a Swedish court found a man guilty of inciting ethnic hatred due to a Quran-burning incident from 2020, marking the first instance in which the courts addressed the charge of desecrating Islam’s sacred text.
Prosecutors have previously indicated that, according to Swedish law, burning a Quran may be interpreted as a critique of the text and religion, thus falling under the protection of free speech.
Nonetheless, depending on the surrounding context and the remarks made during the incident, such actions can also be classified as “agitation against an ethnic group.”