Salwan Mamika, who burned a Koran in Sweden, is killed

Salwan Mamika, an Iraqi immigrant who sparked demonstrations in Sweden and several Muslim countries when he burned a Koran in Stockholm in 2023, was killed, the Swedish Prosecution Authority announced on Thursday morning.

Police said they had arrested five people and a murder investigation had been launched.

Thursday morning, Mr. Mamika was to appear before the district court of Stockholm. He was to receive a verdict on accusations linked to the combustion of the Koran which caused international outrage in 2023 and other demonstrations later that year, he repeated the act.

The shooting took place late Wednesday in Sodoutalje, a city near Stockholm.

The authorities did not say that if they thought that the murder was linked to the fire by Mr. Mamika of the Koran, but Ulf KristerSson, the Swedish Prime Minister, said that the country’s security service examined the murder.

“There is obviously a risk that there is also a link with a foreign power,” KrisSson told journalists. Mr. Mamika’s defense lawyer Anna Roth said he had received death threats.

“He was completely convinced that he would sooner or later be killed,” Roth said in a telephone interview on Thursday.