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An Iraqi refugee in Sweden, Salwan Momika has been killed hours before a court ruling on his repeated burning of the Quran in anti-Islam demonstrations last year.

Police announced on Thursday that they had made five arrests in connection with the murder of 38-year-old Salwan, who was reportedly shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm the previous day.

“I can assure you that the security services are deeply involved because there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a news conference.

Vice Prime Minister Ebba Busch condemned the murder by saying that “it is a threat to our free democracy. It must be met with the full force of our society,” she wrote on X.

The Stockholm District Court, which had been set to rule Thursday on whether Momika and co-defendant Salwan Najem were guilty of “agitation against an ethnic or national group,” said that it had postponed its verdict to February 3 because of the former’s death.

According to the charge sheet issued in August, the pair had desecrated the Quran, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims—on one occasion outside a Stockholm mosque.

Prosecutor Rasmus Oman confirmed that an investigation had been opened into the murder of Momika. “We’re in the very early stages … There’s a lot of information gathering,” he said.

Several media outlets reported that the shooting may have been broadcast live on social media.

Police had responded late Wednesday to a call about a shooting in an apartment building where Momika lived in the city of Södertälje, finding a man who had been “hit by shots.”.

A video seen by news agency Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a livestream that appeared to be from Momika’s TikTok account.

Mr. Momika carried out a series of anti-Islam protests, sparking outrage in many Muslim-majority countries.

Unrest took place at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice, while the Swedish ambassador was expelled from the city amid a diplomatic row.

Swedish police had given Mr. Momika permission for the protest in which he burnt the holy book, in accordance with the country’s free-speech laws.

The government later pledged to explore legal means of abolishing protests that involve burning texts in certain circumstances.

Sweden in 2023 raised its “terrorism” alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after the Quran burnings outraged many Muslims around the world.

Iraqi protesters reacted by storming the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

Momika, who had lived in Sweden since 2018, was faced with possible deportation in 2023 for allegedly giving false information on his residency application.

But Sweden’s migration agency ended up granting him a temporary residency permit after deciding he risked torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.

In March 2024, Momika left Sweden to seek asylum in Norway, saying that Sweden’s freedom of expression and protection of human rights was “a big lie.”.

But Norway deported him back to Sweden several weeks later.

Source: Aljazeera, BBC and other news outlets