Iraqi-born Islam critic Salwan Momika was shot dead at a residence in Sweden on Wednesday night, just hours before he was due to be in court for the Swedish government’s prosecution of him for his Qur’an-burning protests.
38-year-old Salwan Momika was shot dead in an apartment in Södertälje, in Stockholm county, on Wednesday night around 11pm. The refugee, who was born into Iraq’s Assyrian Christian minority but who self-described as a “liberal atheist” had come to Sweden from Iraq in 2018 and given protection because he was at high risk of torture and “inhumane treatment” in his home country.
Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper reports the attack against Momika took place while the Islam critic was livestreaming on the TikTok platform, and that the killing was broadcast. Indeed, the paper states the livestream only ended later when a police officer entered the apartment and turned the phone off.
Five people have been arrested on suspicion of murder. A police insider is reported to have said they are working on the theory a perpetrator accessed the apartment by the building’s roof.
Momika rose to prominence in 2023 after he burned copies of the Qur’an four times at protests in Sweden, including outside a Stockholm mosque and the Iraqi embassy. Proponents of Qur’an burning, as well as wishing to protest Islam itself, say the extremely violent reactions to the burnings ironically prove their own points that Islam is dangerous and incompatible with Western society.
Momika himself asked, rhetorically, in 2024: “If Islam is a religion of peace, why do I need a bulletproof vest?… Why do I need hundreds of police to protect me when I burn a book of the people of the religion of peace?”. Swedish public television broadcaster SVT’s crime correspondent stated on Thursday it was well known in Sweden’s criminal underground that a price had been put on Momika’s head and money could be made by killing him.
British campaigner Tommy Robinson, who is now in prison in the United Kingdom, interviewed Momika in 2024 and warned he faced “certain death”.
It is claimed before coming to Europe, Momika served in an anti-Islamic State (ISIS) militia in Iraq.
Momika’s 2023 Qur’an burnings triggered massive protests which in turn created a diplomatic crisis for Sweden. The Swedish embassy in Iraq was mobbed and Turkey cited Sweden’s permitting freedom of expression against Islam as it slow-walked the nation’s admission into NATO. There were also Qur’an riots in Malmo, Sweden’s infamously multicultural city, in 2023 over Momika.
Momika, along with another Qur’an burner, was charged with incitement against an ethnic group over the 2023 burnings and a verdict in the case was due to be heard in a Stockholm court this morning, some 12 hours after he was shot. A spokesman for the court said the ruling has been delayed to next month “Since it has been confirmed that one of the defendants has died, the sentence must be adjusted to the fact that it is not possible to sentence a deceased person”.
While he characterised the bid to convict him for expressing his views in public as “legal persecution”, Momika nevertheless said “I am grateful for Sweden and I love Sweden and its people”. Sweden had recently jailed another Qur’an burner, Dane Rasmus Paludan. The Judge told Paludan at sentencing “It is permissible to publicly criticize, for example, Islam and even Muslims, but the contempt for a group of people must clearly not exceed the limits of a relevant and responsible discourse”, and found that the activist had intended to “defame and insult Muslims”.
In 2024, it was reported two men were arrested in Germany over planning a terror attack against Sweden because of Qur’an burnings. The men intended to shoot police officers and other people at the Swedish Parliament.