this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2025
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Summary

Salwan Momika, the Iraqi man who staged several Quran burnings in Sweden in 2023, was shot and killed in Sodertalje, near Stockholm.

His actions had sparked international outrage, riots, and diplomatic tensions. Swedish police confirmed a murder investigation is underway, and several arrests have been made.

Momika, who sought asylum in Sweden in 2018, faced charges of incitement to hatred, with a verdict scheduled for the day after his death.

His protests were permitted under free speech laws but led to legal action against him.

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[–] Miaou@jlai.lu 1 points 16 minutes ago

He was being charged for doing this? I had completely missed that. Was Sweden always like this?

[–] sognar@aggregatet.org -1 points 2 hours ago
[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 16 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

He was a asshole, but he sound have been free and safe to be an asshole.

Fuck religion

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world -4 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (2 children)

I'm not for the death penalty or killing people generally (very rare exceptions, maybe).

That said, he did it to rile up millions of people with hate speech (for them it is I bet), so like don't do that or you might face consequences.

Free speech isn't about the right to hate speeching. What a douchebag.

Edit: idiot below trying to frame it I think you shouldn't "blasphemy". No lol go ahead and blasphemy all you want, that's free speech IMO.

[–] Malek061@lemmy.world 2 points 54 minutes ago

Being offended is not a justification for killing nor is it hate speech.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I don't think we should consider blasphemy as hate speech. Or do you want to be required to follow the rules of all religions because they are all offended by it?

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

It wasn't the blasphemy that was hate speech, it was the whole rhing riling them up ffs.

[–] 58008@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

raised anger and criticism in several Muslim nations

I don't think there are many non-Muslims who were onboard with this stupid shit either, to be fair. Besides the spittle-flecked gammon who were already bigots to begin with, of course.

The only Quran burning I'd support would be if Elon Musk did it as part of his whole white identitarian shtick. I'd send ISIS the airfare myself.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I have mixed thoughts on it really, like you should be allowed to do it but its just pointless and stupid so why the fuck would you?

[–] Ronno@feddit.nl 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

To me, it's more about the goal he was trying to achieve. He clearly did it to taunt and insult. In that context, I can see how this should be a punishable offense (not death though).

It would be a similar thing if you had learned that the prime minister of Sweden likes to create art at home. Then buying one of his art pieces and burn it in front of his house. Sure, burning art is not a punishable offense, but the goal of intimidating someone with such a symbol could/should be.

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 points 53 minutes ago

Its doing so outside of their house that could be intimidation at that point though. So if you burnt the art in your own home surely it would be fine? Essentially the burning isn't the problem.

A more reasonable response is Muslims call the guy a cunt and move on.

[–] timewarp@lemmy.world 42 points 23 hours ago (17 children)

Fuck it, now I kind of want to burn a Quran or Bible for funsies.

[–] IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Isn’t that basically like burning newspaper? Both would work I guess

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 10 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago

Toss in a torah to complete the Abrahamic trifecta and top it with dianetics because fuck scientology in particular.

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 19 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

the man wanted to incite hatred, show him middlefinger by doing the opposite

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

How do we know he wanted that?

I see the post that says he was being charged with inciting hatred, but also says his act was protected under free speech.

I think it’s dumb to be burning books as the only people who are going to be pissed are the fundamentalists and they’re always pissed off anyway, but I respect his right to free expression.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 15 points 13 hours ago

so, momika has been in sweden a few years. he converted to christianity in his home country, started shouting loudly about freedom of speech there, got told to stop, then filed for asylum in sweden. once here he kept doing the same thing, which of course jeopardises his asylum claim. only he wasn't first. rasmus paludan has been burning qurans here for a while, always doing it in neighbourhoods with a majority muslim population. as a demonstration of the problem with religion, it's effective. once. but both of them did it for years, and the things they have been saying during their book burning made it clear that it was not actually about freedom of speech, but about hatred of muslims. not islam, muslims. and they were both in court for the crime of hets mot folkgrupp ("incitement of hatred against a population group"). they clearly overstepped the law of the country they were in.

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

What other possible reason would someone have to burn a book that is to some more important than their life. Either people dont care about it or become enraged. And just because you have right to do something doesnt mean you should. His actions have caused a lot of harm, also most likely his own death too.

For argument's sake, lets assume he had some positive reason for his actions. Has there been a single positive thing that has come from this? If you want to do good you need to think the consequences through and if you dont then you shouldnt do anything at all.

[–] 0x0@infosec.pub 2 points 13 hours ago (6 children)

This is such a bullshit take with some not so subtle apoligism and blame shifting.

If burning a book causes a lot of harm in any way besides burn damage, the burner is hardly to blame but something else is fundamentally wrong, and he tried to make that very obvious to everyone with his own life at risk.

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 1 points 43 minutes ago* (last edited 42 minutes ago)

Its not about the PHYSICAL book. Go ask any muslim if there is ANY situation where they would find it acceptable to burn their holy book in such way that guy did. And if he did it to "make it obvious there is something fundamendally wrong" why didnt he then MAKE IT OBVIOUS WHAT IS WRONG? Lets say that was his goal, then he failed so spectacularly words fail me.

I truly dont know what else to say about this if you still dont see what I mean.

And its not nice trying to frame what I said as apoligism or blame shifting. But if you TRULY think so then maybe you should back your arguments with facts instead of throwing words and hoping they stick. I know I can make mistakes and how else can I learn from them than if other people correct me. But i'm pretty sure i'm not wrong about this, but its not good to be blinded by your own surety.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 0 points 2 hours ago

He did it to incite hate. No sane person care about the paper.

I guess if you burn the american flag in Texas, screaming and complaining loudly about"freedom of speech", people will get annoyed, but 20 years ago it was illegal to do so.

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 24 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

momika did it specifically to spark outrage among immigrants. don't do that.

[–] Plastic_Ramses@lemmy.world 34 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

Nah fuck that, If muslims cant handle it they should look the other way like they do when women are stoned to death for showing their hair.

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 6 points 23 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Shezzagrad@lemmy.ml 5 points 19 hours ago

Because that's be antisemetic and how dare you to anything against the Jewish people, don't you know European persecuted them so the entire world now can't anything to them due to white guilt

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 11 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (3 children)
[–] BNE@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 hours ago

Well that checks out.

[–] Khuda@lemmy.world 25 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

look i hate netanyahoo and his party but i don't think this iraqi guy deserved it, i belive in freedom of religion and expression

and i think based on my experience (due to coming from sunni family) islam is something more than a religion

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 13 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

His schtick was grifting and being as racist as possible against brown people. This blatant racism is unacceptable in any way. We do not see Muslims mass burning Torah's because they hate Israel either nor should they be doing that.

This is straight up Nazi rhetoric. but because it is against Islam it is accepted in most Western countries. Even part of the more liberal establishment will defend it.

This man will be slightly more missed than the United Healthcare CEO.

[–] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 23 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

I dont know, the Swedish police's slowness to charge Paludan and Momika with hate speech doesn't really justify some random vigilante (or Turkish spy) going and giving him the death penalty. Kinda outside the paradox of tolerance here.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Is this accepted in most Western countries? It might he legal in the USA but most would think ypu are a weird asshole for burning a holy book.

[–] stephen01king@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Seems pretty accepted by some Lemmy commenters and certain vocal minorities in the western countries.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 1 points 30 minutes ago

That's different as those are very niche.

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[–] FantasticDonkey@reddthat.com 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

What exactly more than a religion is it?

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[–] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Hate speech is an exception to the freedom of speech in Sweden. (Same as in EU countries).

You are allowed to practice your religion and express yourself, but hate speech is off the table.

So if he was not jailed or fined for these book burnings, the law has failed and somebody could have taken matters in their own hands.

[–] Iceblade02@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

This is, as a matter of fact, incorrect. There is only one law regarding what in english might be called "hate speech". It refers to "agitation against a population group", and is the only exception to freedom of expression relevant in this context, mentioned in "brottsbalken", our criminal law.

Brottsbalken, Kap. 16, 8 § Den som i ett uttalande eller i ett annat meddelande som sprids uppmanar till våld mot, hotar eller uttrycker missaktning för en folkgrupp, en annan sådan grupp av personer eller en enskild i någon av dessa grupper med anspelning på ras, hudfärg, nationellt eller etniskt ursprung, trosbekännelse, sexuell läggning eller könsöverskridande identitet eller uttryck, döms för hets mot folkgrupp till fängelse i högst två år.

Criticism of religion however is raised in other, more important parts of law, namely the Swedish form of Government (our constitution). It is there, specifically and repeatedly, mentioned as a kind of speech and expression that is protected. As such, in the case of Salwan Momika it'd have been necessary to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he intended to target muslims by burning quran books, rather than (as he himself claimed) to openly criticize islam. Nobody has as of the posting of this comment been deemed guilty of agitation for burning any religious texts in Sweden under the current law.

This is part of why the trial of him and his companion ended up taking so long. It was one of the first high-profile cases of its kind and likely to set precedent on the topic. As such, I consider his assassination on the night before the verdict of his trial to be not only a barbaric act of violence, but also an explicit attack on the Swedish legal system, our constitution and our freedom of expression.

I'm an American mechanical engineer that's been considering working and living in Sweden for a long time, with recent events pushing me to pursue it with more vigor. Do you know of any culture/law/history primers that may be accessible for an English speaker? Or similar subject but in Swedish with children's book-style vocab/grammar? Cultural integration for kindergartners would be excellent. I'd just like to not make a fool of myself!

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