STOCKHOLM
\nAn 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\u2019an, and five people were arrested over the shooting on Thursday.
\nThe 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.
\nSalwan Momika, 38, was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm, public broadcaster SVT reported, citing unnamed police sources.
\nMomika had burned copies of the Qur\u2019an, the Muslim holy book, in public demonstrations in 2023 against Islam.
\nA Stockholm court had been due to sentence Momika and another man on Thursday in a criminal trial over \u201coffenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group,\u201d but said the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.
\nA police spokesperson confirmed a man was shot dead in Sodertalje, but gave no other details.
\nThe other defendant in the same court case was giving interviews on Thursday and posted a message on X, saying: \u201cI\u2019m next.\u201d
\nThe Security Service said that police were leading the investigation but \u201cwe are following the development of events closely to see what impact this may have on Swedish security,\u201d a spokesperson told Reuters.
\nSwedish 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\u2019s TikTok account.
\nSweden in 2023 raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after the Qur\u2019an burnings, many of them by Momika, outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
\nWhile the Swedish government condemned the wave of Qur\u2019an burnings in 2023, it was initially regarded as a protected form of free speech.
\nSweden\u2019s migration agency in 2023 wanted to deport Momika for giving false information on his residency application, but couldn\u2019t as he risked torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.
\nBurning the Qur\u2019an is seen by Muslims as a blasphemous act because they consider it the literal word of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019an, 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-458634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n