- Swedish court postpones ruling until Febr 3 after Salwan’s death.
- Police was alerted to shooting in Sodertalje, where Momika lived.
- Momika was charged with “agitation against an ethnic group”.
An Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam campaigner was shot dead in Sweden on Thursday, hours before he was due to receive a court verdict following a trial over burning the Holy Quran, leading to the arrest of five people.
The five were arrested in connection with the incident late on Wednesday and ordered detained by a prosecutor, Swedish police said on their website. They did not say if the shooter was among those detained.
The court was due to rule on whether Salwan Momika, 38, who burned copies of the Holy Quran at a slew of protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.
It postponed the ruling until February 3, saying that “because Salwan Momika has died, more time is needed.”
Police said in a statement they had been alerted to a shooting in the city of Sodertalje, where Momika lived.
The shooting occurred indoors and when police arrived they found a man who had been “hit by shots and the man was taken to hospital”, the statement said.
In a later update, police said the man had died and a murder investigation had been opened.
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 Holy 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, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
In August of that year, Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level to four on a scale of five after the Holy Quran burnings had made the country a “prioritised target”.
The Swedish government condemned the desecrations while noting 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 Holy Quran burning, the first time the country’s court system had tried the charge for desecrating the holy book.
Prosecutors have previously said that under Swedish law, the burning of the Holy Quran can be seen as a critique of the book and the religion, and thus be protected under free speech.
However, depending on the context and statements made at the time, it can also be considered “agitation against an ethnic group.”
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.