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Sweden’s prime minister has said a foreign power may have been involved in the fatal shooting of an anti-Islam campaigner just hours before a trial verdict over his burning of the Qur’an was due.
Police arrested five people over the killing of Salwan Momika, 38, who was shot late on Wednesday in a house in the town of Södertälje, near Stockholm. Authorities did not say whether the shooter was among those detained.
Momika, an Iraqi refugee with a chequered past, outraged many people in Sweden and around the world by burning copies of the Qur’an in public demonstrations.
A Stockholm court dismissed the case against Momika after his death. It said the verdict for another man in the same criminal trial over “offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group” would be postponed until Monday.
Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish prime minister, told reporters there were fears the killing could have been linked to another country. “I can assure you that the security services are deeply involved because there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power,” he said.
The deputy prime minister, Ebba Busch, condemned the murder. “It is a threat to our free democracy. It must be met with the full force of our society,” she wrote on X.
The security service said police were leading the investigation but “we are following the development of events closely to see what impact this may have on Swedish security”.
Last year the service said the Iranian government had been using criminal networks within Sweden to carry out violent acts against other states, groups and individuals.
Swedish media reported Momika was streaming live on TikTok when he was shot. A video seen by Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a live stream that appeared to be from his TikTok account.
In 2023 Sweden raised its terrorism alert to the second highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after Qur’an burnings, many of them by Momika, angered many Muslims and prompted threats from jihadists.
On one occasion in June 2023, he stomped on the Islamic holy book and wrapped it in bacon before lighting a few pages on fire, slamming it shut and kicking it like a football.
Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
While the Swedish government condemned the wave of burnings, it was initially regarded as a protected form of free speech.
The burnings of the holy book, by Momika and others, complicated Sweden’s entry into Nato. Turkey suspended talks with Sweden on its Nato application in January 2023 after Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish activist who had been convicted for racist abuse, burned a copy of the Qur’an outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
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Sweden eventually joined Nato in March 2024, almost a year after Finland, despite the two Nordic countries submitting simultaneous applications.
Momika in April 2023 told the newspaper Aftonbladet he did not want to cause Sweden any trouble. “I don’t want to harm this country that received me and preserved my dignity,” he said.
His protests nevertheless caused a headache for the government.
While Momika had police protection during his protests and when attending court, his lawyer, Anna Roth, told the Swedish national news agency TT that as far as she knew he was not protected at home. “He was well aware that there was an extensive threat to him. There was a price on his head,” Roth said.
In March 2024, Momika left Sweden to seek asylum in Norway, telling Agence France-Presse that Sweden’s freedom of expression and protection of human rights was “a big lie”. Norway deported him back to Sweden only weeks later.
Sweden’s migration agency wanted to deport Momika for giving false information on his residency application but could not as it was deemed he could face torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.
With Reuters and AFP
