Man Who Burned Quran Shot Dead Before Court Appearance

By Omowumi Omotosho with Agency report

A man who repeatedly burnt the Quran in 2023 in Sweden, sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, media reported on Thursday, as police confirmed a fatal shooting the day before.

A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at multiple protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.

The ruling was postponed until 3 February, with the court stating: “Because Salwan Momika has died, more time is needed.”

Police said in a statement that they had been alerted to a shooting in the city of Södertälje, where Momika lived.

The shooting occurred indoors, and when police arrived, they found a man who had been “hit by shots and was taken to hospital,” the statement said.

In a later update, police confirmed the man’s death and announced a murder investigation.

Several media outlets identified the deceased as Momika and reported that the shooting may have been broadcast live on social media.

In August, Momika, along with co-protester Salwan Najem, was charged with “agitation against an ethnic group” on four occasions in the summer of 2023.

According to the charge sheet, the duo desecrated the Quran, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims—on one occasion outside a Stockholm mosque.

Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were strained by the pair’s protests.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, setting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

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 highlighting the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.

In October 2023, a Swedish court convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred with a 2020 Quran burning—the first time the country’s courts had tried the charge of desecrating Islam’s holy book.

Prosecutors have previously stated that under Swedish law, burning a Quran can be considered a critique of the book and the religion, making it protected under free speech.

However, depending on the context and statements made at the time, it can also be deemed “agitation against an ethnic group.” (AFP)