For several weeks, Sweden has been embroiled in a diplomatic crisis with the Muslim world. At the origin of these tensions, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden: Salwan Momika. He has, twice in less than a month, triggered a wave of indignation by desecrating a copy of the Koran in Stockholm. If until now this 37-year-old man was a rather discreet individual, his past has nothing to do with a long calm river. On June 28, he had trampled on a copy of the Koran before slipping bacon into it and burning a few pages outside Stockholm’s largest mosque on the first day of Eid al-Adha.
Thursday, July 20, he organized a new rally, authorized by the Swedish police, during which he trampled and tore to pieces a copy of the holy book of Islam in front of the Iraqi embassy, but without setting fire to it as he had announced. Both times, Salwan Momika, square sunglasses on his face, adopted a defiant attitude in the face of counter-protesters criticizing his act, countering their insults with a smirk.
Salwan Momika explains his gesture in an interview with the Swedish daily Expressen: “I want to show the world that the Koran is more dangerous than nuclear weapons. I want it banned or the verses about murder and incitement removed.” He also justifies his act by a desire to “preserve freedom of expression and Swedish human values”. So who is Salwan Momika really? And what is his past, which motivated his high-profile desecrations?
Originally from the province of Nineveh in northern Iraq, Salwan Momika arrived in Sweden in 2018. According to the Swedish press and France 24, he obtained a three-year residence permit until April 2024. Based in the small town of Järna, south of Stockholm, the refugee is very active on social networks. On his Facebook account, he describes himself as a “thinker and writer” who has “no limits to (his) ideas and (his) pen”, and presents himself as a “free atheist”. To the Swedish newspaper Expressen, he specifies that he is of “Aramaic Christian origin”, a former group of different communities settled in the Middle East, in particular in Syria, today ultra-minority.
His social media accounts document an attempted political career in Iraq, before his exile in Sweden, links with a Christian armed group during the fight against the Islamic State group, the creation of an obscure Syriac political party, rivalries with influential Christian paramilitaries and a brief arrest. He also participated in the vast demonstrations against corruption in Iraq at the end of 2019, an unprecedented protest movement bloodily repressed by the authorities, which left more than 600 dead. “I was arrested and persecuted by the Iraqi government. I fled and asked for asylum in Sweden,” he told the Expressen newspaper. He now claims that his “life is threatened by 57 Islamic countries”.
The very serious newspaper Aftonbladet also evokes the beginning of a possible political life of Salwan Momika in Sweden, with the Swedish Democrats (SD). “I belong to the party and I became a member a year ago. I am proud of the party, which is the only one to defend Sweden,” he said earlier this month. “I plan to run for the Swedish Parliament with the SD party in the future and invite all Swedes to join (it) if they want to preserve Swedish laws and values,” he also announced. For its part, this party which supports the current coalition government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, then replied that the actions of Salwan Momika did not represent it.
Initially, Salwan Momika had planned his action in Stockholm in February, but the police had banned the demonstration, citing the risk of disturbing public order. The organizers had appealed against this ban and an administrative court, at the beginning of April, then an administrative court of appeal, in mid-June, had given them reason. Asked by the daily Aftonbladet in April, Salwan Momika assured that he did not intend to “harm this country which (him) welcomed and which preserved (his) dignity”.
His controversial action today represents a real diplomatic headache for the Swedish government. His June 28 gesture drew condemnation around the world, including in Turkey, whose green light is needed for Sweden to join the Atlantic Alliance.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have summoned the representatives of Swedish diplomatic missions in their countries, in order to denounce the authorization granted by Stockholm for acts of desecration of the Koran. In Baghdad, supporters of Shiite religious leader Moqtada Sadr broke into the Swedish embassy on June 29 and set fire to the building on July 20 in protest.
The Swedish government condemned the burning of Salwan Momika, calling it an “Islamophobic act”, and the police opened an investigation for “agitation against an ethnic group”, which took place in front of a mosque. Despite the “thousands of death threats” he says he has received, Salwan Momika’s resolve remains intact and he denies that his actions constitute “hate crimes”.