Salwan Momika was an Iraqi citizen and came to Sweden in 2018. In 2021, he was granted a three-year residence permit.
The Koran burning outside the mosque in June 2023 had been preceded by rejections and appeals. Already in February 2024, he had applied for a new permit.
The Koran burnings sparked strong reactions. In Malmö, they led to riots with stone-throwing and car fires. They also had political consequences, not least for the process surrounding Sweden's entry into NATO, which was ongoing at the time.
Increased threat level
In August 2023, the terror threat level was raised from 3 to 4 on the five-level scale. According to Säpo, Sweden went from being a legitimate to a priority target – partly due to the Koran burnings.
In July 2023, Sweden's embassy in Baghdad was stormed by hundreds of people. At the same time, Iraq broke off all diplomatic contacts with Sweden.
Just a few days later, Iran's spiritual and political leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused the Swedish government of going to war with the Muslim world.
In Germany and Sweden, legal proceedings are underway where terrorist attacks were planned against Sweden. In both cases, the plans are said to have been motivated by the Koran burnings. In December, two men were also convicted in Germany for planning a bomb attack on a Swedish church, also motivated by the Koran burnings.
Salwan Momika also made money from the Koran burnings, which he live-streamed on Tiktok and where viewers could give gifts. According to Momika himself, he could earn between 1,000 and 3,000 kronor per day.
I don't get any help from social services, so I live on that money. I can stand on my own two feet, he said in an interview with TT.
When the platform shut down the gift function for his account, he simply started a new one.
Arrested in Norway
In March 2024, Salwan Momika was arrested in Norway after stating that he would seek asylum there. He was deported back to Sweden and received a new residence permit at the end of May.
In August 2024, he was charged along with Salwan Najem for incitement against a group of people. They are both alleged to have desecrated and burned the Koran, wrapped it in pork and kicked it around on the ground, and made statements that fall within the framework of incitement against a group of people. Both denied the crime. The verdict was to be delivered on Thursday, the day after the murder.
Salwan Momika claimed that the Koran burnings were criticism of Islam and that he was only exercising his freedom of speech.
For me, it's not about NATO, it's criticism of the Koran, which I think should be banned worldwide, not just in Sweden, he said to TT after being granted permission for the first demonstration.
