Man who sparked worldwide protests by burning Quran in Sweden killed while livestreaming

A man has been arrested after a copy of the Quran was burned in Manchester city centre. The 47-year-old, who held an Israeli flag as he live-streamed his act, was detained on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence on Saturday.

It comes just two days after Salwan… pic.twitter.com/evUVX4HfpQ

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) February 2, 2025

An Iraqi man who sparked worldwide protests for publicly burning the Quran has been shot dead in Sweden, almost two years after his infamous hate crime.

According to local Swedish media reports, police announced in a statement this week that a man supposedly in his 40s was shot dead on Wednesday night, revealing that five people had been arrested on suspicion of the killing.

The man in question was revealed to be 38-year-old Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian residing in Sweden, who became infamous for conducting numerous anti-Islam protests and setting fire to a copy of the Quran outside Stockholm Central Mosque back in 2023.

That desecration of the Islamic holy book ignited protests and outcry throughout the world and particularly in Muslim-majority countries.

Almost two years after his hate crime, Momika was reportedly shot in an apartment in the Södertälje area of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, while livestreaming on social media.

Having been charged in August last year with four counts of “agitation against an ethnic group”, the Stockholm District Court verdict was due to be delivered on Thursday, but was postponed after it was “confirmed that one of the defendants had died”.

Read: Far-right politician known for burning Quran copies sentenced to prison in Sweden