Salwan Momika, 38, was not the first person to have burnt the Quran in Sweden. However, the Iraqi refugee's Quran burnings were the event that, in the summer of 2023, set the Scandinavian kingdom's relations with parts of the Middle East ablaze, prompting Swedish authorities to raise the terror alert level on August 17, 2023. On trial for inciting racial hatred, Momika was found dead on Wednesday, January 29, in his apartment in the city of Södertälje, south of Stockholm.

Police were alerted to the killing at around 11 pm, after gunshots were heard in an apartment building in the Hovsjö district. According to Swedish media reports, Momika had been broadcasting a message on TikTok when he was shot dead. His killing was broadcast live on the social media platform, before a police officer turned off his phone on arriving at the scene of the crime.

On Thursday, morning, prosecutor Rasmus Ohman reported that five people had been arrested. The tabloid Expressen reported that all five were men, aged between 20 and 60, all Södertälje residents and that some were members of the same family. At a press conference, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson revealed that Swedish intelligence services were "very much involved in this case, because there is, obviously, a risk of links with foreign powers."

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