03 February 2025 , 15:10
342
0
Stockholm court gives Salwan Najem, whose co-defendant was shot dead last week, suspended sentence and fine.
A man who participated in several Qur’an burnings in Stockholm that contributed to a diplomatic crisis between Sweden and the Muslim world has been convicted of incitement against an ethnic group.
Stockholm district court gave Salwan Najem a suspended sentence and a fine on Monday morning, saying his actions and behaviour in summer 2023 exceeded what could be described as engaging in objective debate and criticism of religion.
Najem was charged over statements he made in connection with four incidents of Qur’an burning in Stockholm with Salwan Momika, who was shot dead last Wednesday during a TikTok broadcast.
Najem, who came to Sweden from Iraq in 1998 and has been a Swedish citizen since June 2005, said his actions were legitimate criticisms of religion protected by Sweden’s freedom of expression laws. But Göran Lundahl, the judge in the case, said freedom of expression did not constitute a “free pass to do or say anything”.
After the verdict was delivered, Lundahl said: “There is a great deal of scope within the framework of freedom of expression to be critical of a religion in a factual and valid debate. At the same time, expressing one’s opinion about religion does not give one a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.”
Momika, who was also an Iraqi refugee, was indicted alongside Najem. The charges against him were dropped after he was killed on his balcony in Södertälje, near Stockholm, where he reportedly lived at a secret address. Five people were arrested and detained on the night of the murder but on Friday the prosecution authority said they would all be released.
Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish prime minister, told reporters there were fears the killing could have been linked to another country. “I can assure you that the security services are deeply involved because there is obviously a risk that there is a connection to a foreign power,” he said.
Momika’s former lawyer, Anna Roth, said on Friday her client had not been protected despite having testified that there was a price on his head.
On Monday she said Najem’s sentencing was a “fundamentally important judgment”. She added: “Unfortunately it has been overshadowed by the fatal shooting of Salwan Momika. I hope that the police can investigate and find the perpetrator or perpetrators to clarify what was behind the deadly shooting.”
As well as intensifying a global diplomatic row between Sweden and Muslim countries around the world, the string of protests during which copies of the Qur’an were burned or otherwise damaged prompted an impassioned domestic debate about the limits of the Scandinavian country’s exceptionally liberal freedom of expression laws.
The prosecution in Najem’s case said that the aim of the Qur’an burnings had been to express contempt for Muslims because of their religion, and therefore could be considered incitement against an ethnic group.
At the time of the burnings, Kristersson accused outsiders of exploiting the country’s freedom of expression laws to spread hate and of “dragging Sweden into international conflicts”. He also said his government would consider changes that would allow police to stop Qur’an burnings if they posed a threat to national security.
At the time, Sweden was not yet a part of Nato and was concerned that the controversy could derail its membership. It became a member of the military alliance last March.
The government is reportedly no longer planning to present a bill in parliament this spring to ban Qur’an burnings. A spokesperson for the justice department said it was preparing its response, adding: “The government will come back in the future about the way forward.”