Sweden: suspended sentence for Quran burner's partner

Sweden: suspended sentence for Quran burner's partner
2025-02-03T17:35:55+00:00

Shafaq News/ On Monday, a Swedish court convicted an anti-Islam activist for committing hate crimes by publicly burning copies of the Quran, just five days after the death of his partner, Salwan Momika, who was also on trial for similar actions.

Salwan Najem, a 50-year-old Iraqi-Swedish citizen, has been sentenced to a suspended prison term and fined 4,000 Swedish kronor (358 USD) for burning copies of the Quran and making insulting remarks in 2023, actions that sparked unrest and anger in Muslim-majority countries towards Sweden.

The Quran burnings in 2023 made the balance between freedom of speech and the protection of ethnic and religious groups a key issue for Sweden and other European countries.

The Stockholm court emphasized Sweden's broad freedom of expression rights, confirming that followers of any religion must accept occasional offense. However, it ruled that Najem and Momika “crossed a significant line" in terms of reasonable and respectful criticism of religions.

"Najem and Momika desecrated the Quran in several ways and made offensive remarks about Islam, Muslims, and activities in mosques," the court explained.


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