Cnn
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Salwan Mamika, an Iraqi man who sparked indignation by organizing demonstrations burning the Koran in Sweden in 2023, was shot, according to the Swedish authorities.
A spokesperson for the Swedish prosecutor’s office confirmed to CNN that Mamika had been shot in capital City Stockholm on Wednesday.
Stockholm police told CNN that five people were arrested on Wednesday evening for suspicion of murder.
Mamika had to make a verdict in a trial where he was accused of incitement to racial hatred, a lawyer of Goran Lundahl, lawyer of the Stockholm district court, told CNN. This conviction has now been postponed.
In 2023 Momika told CNN that he had come to Sweden from Iraq in 2018.
He said he had made the demonstrations because he thought that the Koran “should be prohibited in the world because of the danger it provokes democracy, ethics, human values, rights of the ‘Man and women’s rights. It just doesn’t work in this period.
The Swedish authorities had first tried to prevent Mamika from staging demonstrations by refusing a police license to demonstrate. This decision was then canceled by the Stockholm Court of Appeal, citing freedom of expression.
An account on X claiming to be Mamika has regularly published updates on its 2025 trial at more than 230,000 subscribers. The account has also regularly published anti-Islam feelings.
Earlier this month, the account asked for donations to go to a lawyer, who would have help Mamika gain asylum in the United States.
A prosecutor will now be responsible for investigating murder, said Stockholm police spokesperson.
Security services will also be involved in the survey, as there is a risk that the murder of Mamika can be linked to foreign powers, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf KrisSson said on Thursday at a press point, according to the broadcaster SVT audience.