An Iraqi man who staged Quran burnings in Sweden was shot dead hours before he was set to receive a verdict on Thursday in a trial tied to the desecrations of Islam’s holy book that drew worldwide uproar, authorities said.
Salwan Momika, an asylum seeker in Sweden and anti-Islam campaigner, sparked waves of outrage throughout parts of the Muslim world in 2023 when he burned a copy of the Quran outside a mosque during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. Videos of Quran burnings by a small group of men in Sweden and Denmark that year ignited a global controversy, drawing condemnation from several Muslim nations and leading to riots in some places.
On Thursday, the Stockholm District Court said a verdict in a trial in which Momika was a defendant was postponed because one of the defendants died. A judge confirmed that the man who was shot dead was Momika and said he had no details on how.
Sweden’s public broadcaster reported that he was killed in a shooting in a city near the capital. It said Momika, 38, had come to Sweden in 2018 and was later granted a temporary residence permit. Swedish media reported that Momika’s TikTok account was live-streaming shortly before the shooting.
Stockholm police said a man was found with gunshot wounds on Wednesday night. The police said a preliminary murder investigation was opened and five people were detained, without elaborating.
The second defendant in the Quran-burning case posted a message on X on Thursday that said: “I’m next.”
The court had been scheduled to hand down a verdict Thursday in a trial over “agitation against an ethnic or national group” tied to several Quran burnings in Stockholm during the summer of 2023. It said a decision in the case would be announced Monday.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário