Iraqi who burned Quran’s copies in Sweden shot dead

KABUL (Pajhwok): An Iraqi man Salwan Momika, who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden, has been shot dead and five people have been arrested in connected with his murder.

The Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam campaigner was shot dead in Sweden hours before he was due to receive a court verdict following a trial over burning the holy Quran, and five people were arrested over the shooting on Thursday.

The five were arrested in connection with the incident late on Wednesday (Jan. 29) and ordered detained by a prosecutor, Swedish police said on their website. They did not say if the shooter was among those detained.

Salwan Momika, 38, was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm, public broadcaster SVT reported, citing unnamed police sources.

Momika had burned copies of the holy Quran in public demonstrations in 2023 against Islam.

A Stockholm court had been due to sentence Momika and another man on Thursday (Jan. 30) in a criminal trial over “offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group”, but said the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.

Swedish media reported that Momika was streaming live on TikTok at the time he was shot. A video seen by Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a livestream that appeared to be from Momika’s TikTok account.

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