Sweden’s Quran burner says he is leaving for Norway over threat of deportation
Christian Iraqi Salwan Momika, who drew outrage from Muslim world with torching of Islam’s holy tome, says Swedish freedom of expression and rights laws are ‘a big lie’
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — An Iraqi refugee in Sweden who stoked international outrage by repeatedly desecrating the Quran last year, said Wednesday that he was leaving the country for neighboring Norway after Sweden revoked his residency permit.
Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests in Sweden last summer, told AFP that he had left Sweden and arrived in Norway, where he planned to seek asylum.
“I left Sweden because of the persecution I was subjected to by government institutions,” Momika said in a text message.
Momika’s Quran burnings sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in Muslim countries.
Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
The Swedish government condemned the desecrations of the Quran but stressed the country’s laws regarding freedom of speech and assembly.
But prosecutors have investigated whether his actions are permissible under Sweden’s hate speech law, which prohibits incitement of hatred against groups or individuals based on race, religion or sexual orientation. Momika says his protests target the religion of Islam, not Muslim people.
Sweden’s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level in mid-August to four on a scale of five after the angry reactions made the country a “prioritized target.”
The Swedish Migration Agency revoked Momika’s residency permit in October, citing false information in his original application, but he was granted a temporary one as it said there was an “impediment to enforcement” of deportation to Iraq.
The month before, Iraq had requested his extradition over one of the Quran burnings.
“Sweden has become a threat to me after the decision to expel me and the threat to extradite me to Iraq,” Momika said, calling Sweden’s freedom of expression and protection of human rights “a big lie.”
His Quran-burning activities led to a Muslim activist requesting and receiving permission to burn Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm.
The move sparked widespread outrage in Israel and Jewish groups with President Isaac Herzog calling it an act of “pure hate” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying “Israel viewed very severely this shameful decision to harm the holy of holies of the Jewish people.”
However, the activist, identified as Ahmad Alush, 32, backed off from the threat saying he only wanted to draw attention to Momika’s burnings.
The Times of Israel Community.