STOCKHOLM: An 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 Qur’an, and five people were arrested over the shooting on Thursday.
The five were arrested in connection with the incident late on Wednesday 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 Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, in public demonstrations in 2023 against Islam.
A Stockholm court had been due to sentence Momika and another man on Thursday in a criminal trial over “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” but said the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.
A police spokesperson confirmed a man was shot dead in Sodertalje, but gave no other details.
The other defendant in the same court case was giving interviews on Thursday and posted a message on X, saying: “I’m next.”
The Security Service said that police were leading the investigation but “we are following the development of events closely to see what impact this may have on Swedish security,” a spokesperson told Reuters.
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.
Sweden in 2023 raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after the Qur’an burnings, many of them by Momika, outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
While the Swedish government condemned the wave of Qur’an burnings in 2023, it was initially regarded as a protected form of free speech.
Sweden’s migration agency in 2023 wanted to deport Momika for giving false information on his residency application, but couldn’t as he risked torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.
Burning the Qur’an is seen by Muslims as a blasphemous act because they consider it the literal word of God.
Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning; five people arrested
https://arab.news/8ebrk
Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning; five people arrested
- Salwan Momika protested outside a mosque in Stockholm on June 28, 2023, during the Eid al-Adha holiday
- Momika was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm
Thailand frees 18 Cambodian soldiers as ceasefire holds
- The Southeast Asian neighbors agreed on a ceasefire that took effect on Saturday, halting 20 days of fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million
BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH: Thailand on Wednesday released 18 Cambodian soldiers it had detained since July under the renewed ceasefire the two countries agreed on the weekend to end a border conflict, Cambodian and Thai authorities said.
The Southeast Asian neighbors agreed on a ceasefire that took effect at noon (0500 GMT) on Saturday, halting 20 days of fighting that killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides, and included fighter-jet sorties, exchanges of rocket fire and artillery barrages.
The soldiers were due to be returned on Tuesday, but Thailand over alleged breaches of the ceasefire deal, which Cambodia denied.
Cambodian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said the soldiers were handed over at a border checkpoint at 10 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Wednesday after 155 days in Thai custody.
Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said the soldiers had been treated “in
The border clashes reignited early this month, following the breakdown in a
ceasefire deal
that US President
Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim helped broker to halt a previous round of conflict in July.
