Anti-Islam activist notorious for burning Quran shot dead during TikTok livestream

Salwan Momika, a notorious anti-Islam activist known for buring Qurans and Iraqi refugee, was shot dead in his apartment in Södertälje, Sweden, while broadcasting a TikTok live

An anti-Islam activist notorious for burning a Quran was shot dead in his apartment while filming a live stream on TikTok, police have said.

Salwan Momika is said to have been shot in his apartment in Sweden with the killing livestreamed on the social media platform. Police have said five people have now been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the incident.

Cops were called at 11.11pm on Wednesday to reports of a gunshot inside an apartment building in the Hovsjö district of the city of Södertälje in Stockholm County. Speaking in the early hours of Thursday morning, police sopkesman Daniel Wikdahl confirmed: "We were called out at 11.11pm to a suspected shooting, and we have been able to confirm that one person is injured."

Fellow activist and friend, Salwan Najem, later spoke to Swedish outlet Expressen, saying he had been contacted by authorities who had confirmed that Momika had died. The pair were due in court in Stockholm at 11am on Thursday having been charged with hate crimes.

According to prosecutors, the pair were accused of burning a Quran, wrapping it in pork and kicking it around on the ground. They also reporedly made comments that could be classed as "inciting hatred against a group of people".

Momika was an Iraqi refugee who settled in Sweden and was an atheist anti-Islam activist. He regularly arranged public demonstrations where he burnt the Quran. One such protest was approved in June 2023 by police after an activist, believed to be the organiser Momika, submitted an application to burn Islam's most sacred text in front of the Medborgarplatsen mosque in Stockholm.

Police spokesperson Julia Maric said that though there is a ban on fires in place, the man's constitutional rights to burn the book takes precedence. The protest was planned to coincide with an Eid celebration taking place at the mosque, which was expecting a large number of visitors.

His actions ingited fury and outrage across the Muslim community and led to several protests targeting Swedish insitutions abroad. The Swedish embassy in Iraq was stormed twice in July 2023 by protesters who started a fire in the compound on the second occasion. In response to the attacks, terror alerts throughout Sweden were raised to a four out of five as intelligence agencies warned the country was a "prioritised target".

The Swedish Migration Agency revoked Momika's residency permit in October 2023, citing false information in his original application. However, he was granted a temporary one to prevent his extradition to Iraq following an application by Baghdad months prior.