STOCKHOLM—Late on Jan. 29, Salwan Momika, who gained notoriety for burning the Quran publicly in Sweden, was shot dead in his home in Sodertalje, south of Stockholm, while broadcasting live on social media platform TikTok.
Five men suspected of involvement in the murder have been arrested.
The murder has dominated headlines in Sweden, despite an ongoing crime wave including about 30 bombings since the start of the year, and where the uncle of one of the most high-profile crime bosses, currently abroad, was shot dead earlier on Jan. 29.
At a news conference on the crime wave that same day, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also commented on Momika’s murder and said that Swedish security services were involved in the investigation, as “there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power.”
Several leading Swedish politicians have condemned the killing. Meanwhile, social media overflowed with people celebrating Momika’s death.
Momika, 38, was an Iraqi national with permanent residency in Sweden and one of several high-profile activists who has burned the Quran publicly in Sweden over the past two years. He was killed the night before his sentencing for a conviction for incitement to ethnic or racial hatred, in conjunction with some of the Quran burnings.
Nothing is known yet about the motive, and at least two of the suspects deny involvement, according to their legal counsels.
Momika’s associate, Salwan Najem, told The Epoch Times that he has also received death threats. He fears for his life and said he believes he “will be next.” He also said he believes that a woman, also known for burning Qurans, will also be “purged.”
“This is not Sweden anymore; it’s Pakistan, Afghanistan,” he told The Epoch Times.
It is not known whether Momika had police protection, but according to several sources, including his lawyer, who spoke to Swedish media, he did not. Swedish National Police Commissioner Petra Lundh declined to comment on the issue of protection at a news conference but indicated that some people are offered police protection and refuse.
Writer, security analyst, and Epoch Times contributor Johan Westerholm, a longtime observer of both Islam and freedom of speech, said he believes the killing of Momika will have a particularly chilling effect on critics of Islam in Sweden who come from Muslim countries.
“There are people with a background in these cultures who have been able to criticize religion in [the West],” Westerholm said. “This is a clear signal to them: You are not safe in Sweden.”
Freelance journalist Roger Sahlstrom, who has been covering the Quran burnings over the past two years and met Momika several times, told The Epoch Times that he was not surprised by the murder. He said that he found Momika to be a very passionate person but also complicated. Momika had claimed that members of his family were killed.
The murder may inspire more Quran burnings, according to Sahlstrom.
“There are quite a lot of individuals in Sweden who want to burn the Quran,“ he said. ”On the internet, quite a lot of people claim that they will spontaneously burn the Quran now, so this won’t die down.”
Quran burnings led to major riots in several Swedish cities around Easter 2022 and to the storming of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad in July 2023. It also became a sticking point for Turkey in Sweden’s NATO membership application. Momika first burned the Quran in June 2023.
