Desecrator of Qur’an shot dead at home in Sweden
An Iraqi immigrant whose repeated desecration of the copies of the Holy Qur'an in Sweden outraged Muslims and non-Muslims across the world has been killed in his home near the Nordic country’s capital of Stockholm.
Swedish public television SVT reported on Thursday that 38-year-old Salwan Momika had been found dead in his apartment in the city of Sodertalje after being shot.
Local police said they received a report of an overnight shooting, where a man was found with gunshot wounds. He later died in the hospital, and a preliminary murder investigation was launched.
Police confirmed that the dead man was Momika and a murder investigation got underway.
Prosecutor Rasmus Öman told Swedish news agency TT that several people had been arrested in the case, without elaborating.
The Stockholm District Court said a verdict scheduled Thursday in a trial in which Momika was a defendant was postponed because one of the defendants had died.
Göran Lundahl, a judge at the court, confirmed that the deceased was Momika.
Momika and a co-defendant were charged in the Stockholm court with incitement to racial hatred because of statements they made in connection with the Qur'an burnings.
The 38-year-old staged several blasphemous burnings and desecrations of Islam’s holy book in Sweden in 2023. Videos of the Qur'an burnings got worldwide publicity and raised anger and criticism in Muslim nations, leading to riots and unrest in many places.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry called on Sweden in 2023 to extradite the Iraqi man so that he could be tried according to the country’s laws.
The Ministry emphasized that Momika's heinous act, which is an insult to religious sanctities, had hurt the feelings of Muslims all over the world.
Sweden has repeatedly permitted Qur'an burnings in recent years.
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