Man who burned Quran sparking violent protests in Sweden shot dead
Jan 31, 2025
Stockholm [Sweden], January 31: A man who sparked violent protests after burning the Quran has been shot dead in Sweden.
Salwan Momika was killed in an apartment in Sodertalje, Stockholm, on Wednesday evening, prosecutors told the BBC.
Unrest broke out after Momika set fire to a copy of Islam's holy book outside Stockholm Central Mosque in 2023.
Stockholm police said in a statement that five people had been arrested after a man in his 40s was shot dead overnight.
Officers were called to a suspected shooting at an apartment in Hovsjo around 23:11 local time (22:11 GMT) on Wednesday. The man, who has not been named by police, was found with gunshot wounds and taken to hospital. The force announced he had died on Thursday morning.
Local media reported that Momika had been livestreaming on social media around the time he was shot.
Momika, an Iraqi living in Sweden, was charged in August alongside one other with "agitation against an ethnic group" on four occasions in the summer of 2023. The verdict, due to be delivered on Thursday, was postponed after it was "confirmed that one of the defendants had died", Stockholm District Court said.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sweden's security services were involved in the investigation because there was "obviously a risk that there were links to foreign powers," SVT reported. (Agencies)
Source: Qatar Tribune
