- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@sh.itjust.works
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@sh.itjust.works
Summary
Salwan Momika, the Iraqi man who staged several Quran burnings in Sweden in 2023, was shot and killed in Sodertalje, near Stockholm.
His actions had sparked international outrage, riots, and diplomatic tensions. Swedish police confirmed a murder investigation is underway, and several arrests have been made.
Momika, who sought asylum in Sweden in 2018, faced charges of incitement to hatred, with a verdict scheduled for the day after his death.
His protests were permitted under free speech laws but led to legal action against him.
For some context, when one scratches a bit the back-story of this guy, some interesting facts pop up:
The rest of the article also describes multiple instances of him behaving erratically (e.g. threatening someone with a knife etc).
So before we go to the standard «western right wing troll» stereotyping, we must acknowledge that this is a veteran of the fight against ISIS who experienced persecution of his community during the Iraqi civil war and who probably was suffering from all sorts of trauma.
Does this excuse his behaviour, no. But it does explain it, way better than simplistic caricatures putting him in some «western racist» pigeonhole. He definitely did not deserve to die and he probably had some very legitimate reasons to hate Islam, a religion that he personally experienced in a really fucked up and extreme form in an extremely fucked up and extreme situation. Sadness all around.
Quite a lose-lose situation indeed. People who hate each others guts. I hope they can find the perpetrators soon.