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Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant who set off protests in Sweden and several Muslim countries<\/a> when he burned a Quran<\/a> in Stockholm in 2023, has been killed, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said Thursday morning.<\/p>\n The police said that they had arrested five people and that a murder investigation had been launched. <\/p>\n Mr. Momika had been set to appear in Stockholm District Court on Thursday morning. He was scheduled to receive a verdict on charges related to the Quran burning that prompted international outrage in 2023, and to other demonstrations later that year at which he repeated the act.<\/p>\n The shooting took place late on Wednesday in Sodertalje, a city near Stockholm.<\/p>\n The authorities did not say if they believed the killing was connected to Mr. Momika\u2019s burning of the Quran, but Ulf Kristersson, Sweden\u2019s prime minister, said that the country\u2019s security service was looking into the killing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere is obviously a risk that there is also a connection with a foreign power,\u201d Mr. Kristersson told reporters<\/a>. Mr. Momika\u2019s defense attorney, Anna Roth, said he had received death threats.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was quite convinced that he would sooner or later be killed,\u201d Ms. Roth said in a phone interview on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Momika had set the Quran ablaze during Eid al-Adha, a major Islamic holiday, outside a mosque in Stockholm. He was born and raised a Christian, but later said he was an atheist, Ms. Roth said. By burning the Quran, he said that he was trying to raise awareness about the mistreatment and killing of Christian minorities by Islamists in some parts of the Muslim world.<\/p>\n \u201cI am warning the Swedish people about the dangers of this book,\u201d Mr. Momika had said through a megaphone outside the mosque.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The response from the Muslim world was swift and furious, with much of the criticism aimed at the Swedish authorities for not stopping the burning.<\/p>\n In Iraq, several hundred people stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad<\/a> and set parts of it ablaze. Iraq expelled Sweden\u2019s ambassador and directed its ambassador to Sweden to withdraw from its embassy in Stockholm.<\/p>\n Egypt called the Quran burning \u201ca disgraceful act<\/a>.\u201d And Morocco recalled its ambassador in Sweden, its state news agency<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n The Swedish authorities had condemned Mr. Momika\u2019s actions at the time, but the police granted a permit for his planned demonstration after a Swedish court ruled that banning it would impinge on the right to freedom of speech.<\/p>\n The permit, however, did not allow him to burn objects, and Mr. Momika was subsequently charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group in four incidents of kicking, stamping on and burning a Quran. He also made speeches with derogatory statements directed against Muslims and Islam, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe fact that statements are made in a large square and disseminated is a prerequisite for incitement to racial hatred,\u201d said Anna Hankkio, a Swedish prosecutor who initially brought the charges against Mr. Momika. \u201cIt is up to the district court to assess whether the burning of the Quran can also be considered incitement against a group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that summer, Mr. Momika again burned Qurans, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n The Quran burnings \u2014 and the resulting horror and outrage from the Muslim world \u2014 sparked debates in Sweden, which has struggled with whether to allow such protests.<\/p>\n Before Mr. Momika burned the holy book, Swedish authorities had denied other anti-Quran protests, citing concerns about disruption to public order. After the burning, Sweden\u2019s foreign ministry called Mr. Momika\u2019s action Islamophobic, and officials warned that such protests could affect the country\u2019s national security policy. The domestic security agency briefly raised its terrorism threat to its most severe designation.<\/p>\n Salwan Najem, who joined Mr. Momika in some protests and was also accused of burning a Quran, was a co-defendant in the case that was to be decided on Thursday. He is now set to receive his verdict on Feb. 3.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Mr. Najem expressed fear, posting a link on X<\/a> to a story about Mr. Momika\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n \u201cI am next,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n