Both times it started in roughly the same way. Salwan Momika (37) appears on a patch of grass with the Koran in one hand and a megaphone in the other. He draws on the Muslims’ holy book. Smiles at the congregation, makes sure they follow along. When people shout, Momika shouts back. But on Thursday, not everything went as planned. The counter-demonstrators drowned out what he had to say on the other side of the police barricade. Here, Momika is released into the area in front of the Iraqi embassy. Photo: TT NEWS AGENCY / Reuters It had also started to rain. It is disputed whether he tried to set the book on fire or not, but it is certain that it did not really catch fire. With little ceremony, he packed up the Koran, the Iraqi flag and the picture of a well-known Shiite leader, and left without burning anything. Nevertheless, a diplomatic relationship has gone up in smoke. Swedish companies are no longer allowed to trade in Iraq, say the authorities there. The Swedish ambassador in Baghdad has been asked to return home, after the embassy there was stormed and set on fire by protesters yesterday. Who is the person who has seen so many minds boil, and why is he famous in Iraq? Supposed to have led a Christian militia. Momika was born in Al-Hamdaniya, which lies in the north of Iraq. This is the core area of the Assyrians, who are a Christian people group. Although he too is said to be of Christian faith, the Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed writes that he has not succeeded in getting support from the religious community. Momika grew up in Al-Hamdaniya, a district east of Mosul. Photo: KHALID AL-MOUSILY / Reuters At least not before 2013, when the Islamic State (IS) was established. In response, several local militias appeared. These were both Muslim and Christian, and were subject to the People’s Mobilization Force (PMF). The president of the Framtids-stiftung Washington DC tweeted last month that Momika was also a member of PMF. The head of the Framtids-stiftung Washington DC believes this man is Salwan Momika. Photo: Entifadh Qanbar / Twitter According to the news websites Arab News and The New Arab, Momika has been active in several of the Christian militias, and also led his own under the name of Suqur Assyria. Still wanted in Iraq The newspapers write that Momika ended up in prison in March 2017, and was in custody for 18 days before he was released. Since then, he is said to have been involved in several political movements against Shia Muslims in Iraq, before finally fleeing to Sweden in 2021. In a video on social media, Momika comes out harshly against Tobias Billström for condemning the burning of the Koran. He will still be charged with several matters in his home country, according to lawyers that The New Arab has spoken to. Momika himself denies that he has been involved in the PMF or the militias in Iraq. “I was just a politician”, he said in an interview with Aftonbladet. Høigilt researches language, ideology, culture and society in the Middle East. Professor of Middle Eastern studies at UiO, Jakob Høigilt, believes that Sweden has found itself in an “unfortunate soup” that actually has nothing to do with Turkey or NATO membership. – Salwan Momika is an Iraqi who has played a political role in Iraq. So these are largely internal Iraqi conflicts. – But associations can quickly be created in people’s minds that Sweden is a country that has a grudge against various Muslim countries in the Middle East, even if objectively speaking this is not the case. Wants to become a candidate for the Riksdag Momika is also known to the police in Sweden. In the summer of the same year that he received a three-year residence permit, he was sentenced to community service for threatening a roommate. Today he lives under the protection of the police as a result of threats, while at the same time he is being investigated for hate crime after the burning of the Koran on 28 June. Before the demonstration on Thursday, Momika posted a video on Instagram. There he said that he had managed to persuade the Swedish police to let him demonstrate in front of the great mosque in Stockholm. Momika outside the Great Mosque in Stockholm on 28 June. Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP – With this book I will also burn the Iraqi flag, which does not represent me. I’m going to grill pork over them in front of the Iraqi embassy. Arab News writes that Momika has asked the Swedish authorities to grant him Swedish citizenship, or if not grant him extended refugee status. Momika has told Aftonbladet that he wants to represent the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag. – I belong to the party and became a member a year ago. I am proud of the party as the only one that defends Sweden and Swedish values, says Momika. – But what I do for my freedom, and my demonstrations, do not represent the party to which I belong.
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Who is the Koran burner in Stockholm? – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
