As uncertainty shrouds his future, a past full of contradictions haunts Qur’an burner Salwan Momika

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Updated 07 July 2023
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As uncertainty shrouds his future, a past full of contradictions haunts Qur’an burner Salwan Momika

  • Iraqi refugee claims to be liberal, but he fought in the Imam Ali Brigades and praised firebrand cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr
  • Swedish political writer Jerry Maher says Momika’s motives appears to be asylum related, presenting himself as a victim

LONDON: Salwan Momika, the Iraqi refugee who burned and desecrated a copy of the holy Qur’an outside a Stockholm mosque on Eid Al-Adha, made headlines across the globe as his act went viral on social media. 

Momika’s stunt quickly spread across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. What followed was a barrage of threats from understandably angry Muslims and even non-Muslims around the world, who argued that he had other means to deliver his message and that religious symbols must be kept sacred. 

As predicted, Momika’s actions caused diplomatic troubles for Sweden; he also reportedly received several death threats via social media and his personal contact information. 

As the story continues to unfold, Momika has called upon authorities to extend his refugee status and even grant him citizenship. Now, while there is no doubt the threats to his life are real, an Arab News investigation into his past has raised several questions about the authenticity of his motives and ideological claims. 

On June 28, Momika stood in front of the Central Mosque in Stockholm shielded by a wall of Swedish police officers as his friend filmed him ripping pages from the Qur’an, burning them, and covering them with bacon.

 

“This is my country. I am keen to protect Sweden from this book, I am keen to protect Sweden from this book. This book is a threat to this country,” he shouted at worshipers exiting the mosque and toward his friend, who filmed him.

“I call on every honorable person to step on this book,” he said.

However, not so long ago, the self-proclaimed “liberal” Momika stood dressed in militia attire pledging allegiance to one of the most notorious extreme religious groups in Iraq — the Imam Ali Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Movement of Iraq that operates under the terrorist-designated Popular Mobilization Units.

 

 

“We either live with dignity or die courageously. I am the officer in charge of Kata’ib Rouh Allah Issa Ibn Miriam (the Brigade of the Spirit of God Jesus, Son of Mary), which is affiliated with the Imam Ali Brigades, peace be upon him,” he said in a video interview ahead of the PMU’s battles against Daesh.

Originally from Qaraqosh in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Plains, he was also a founder of the Syriac Democratic Union party and the Hawks Syriac Forces, an armed militia established in 2014 that was affiliated with the pseudo-Christian militia Babylon Brigades, which took up arms against Daesh as the latter attempted to take control of Iraq in its conquest to assert Shariah across the land.

Now he claims that Muslims are migrating away from their own countries because they are ruled by Shariah. “They flee that country to come here and want to apply their Shariah law. They come here seeking safety, peace, dignity and democracy, and then they say that they want to apply their Shariah law, as if they are the oppressed,” he said.

 

 

In another instance, Momika announced that he intended to file a lawsuit against Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada Al-Sadr because he urged people to kill him after he burned a copy of the holy Qur’an.

However, a now-deleted tweet he published on his account on Dec. 2, 2021 shows that he praised and rallied support for the head of the Iraqi Sadrist movement, stating: “In support of the courageous commander Muqtada … neither eastern nor western … a national majority government … they will fight and break it up.”

 

Arab News contacted several experts in Iraq who all confirmed Momika’s past involvement with the group. 

These contradictions, as well as his background, have shed light on why he went on to publicly defame and burn the Qur’an.

“Momika came from a background strongly influenced by Christianity and joined the ranks of the militia to combat a common enemy, Daesh,” said Dr. Hani Nasira, a political and religious expert. “While he adhered to the Christian faith, he worked tirelessly to achieve his goal of attaining importance and relevance. He became an opportunist.”




A letter of condemnation issued by the Council of Christian Church-Leaders of Iraq. (Courtesy: Patriarch Mar Awa III via Facebook)

An Arab News investigation into Momika’s social media profiles and personas highlighted a sharp shift in the Iraqi refugee’s posts. His Facebook and Instagram feed was first dominated by criticism of the Iraqi government following the mass protests of 2019 up until six months ago, when he took an extremely anti-Islamic stance and consistently posted derogatory statements about the Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim faith.

“When the circumstances aligned, he renounced his faith and became an atheist, going to great lengths to make his point and appeal to a niche group that shares his ideology, thus provoking the opposing party,” said Nasira.

“His transition from one extreme to another, even rejecting his own religion and becoming an atheist, was not enough. He failed miserably, so he further pushed his agenda, strategically choosing the right time and place. He utilized social media to gain fame and attention, exploiting Islamophobia to achieve his goals.”

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The circumstances in question appear to be tied to Momika’s immigration and refugee status.

According to Swedish immigration law, anyone granted refugee status will be given a three-year residence permit with the opportunity to apply for an extension if protection is still needed. However, with the country tightening its immigration laws, more and more refugees are seeing their permits being withdrawn.




Salwan Momika on a visit to Germany before moving to Sweden. (Instagram)

Momika has made known his intention of staying in Sweden. In a phone interview with CNN last week, the Iraqi said he came to Sweden five years ago from Iraq and has Swedish citizenship, however, Arab News could not find any proof to support his statement.

The Iraqi chose the one red line to cross that would ensure his life would be at risk should he be forced to return to Iraq: flagrantly vandalizing the most sacred of symbols in the Islamic world, the Qur’an.

“The most important thing is to take pictures,” Momika shouted in front of the Central Mosque as he burned the Qur’an. “It is the most important thing.”

Prior to the burning, Momika posted an Instagram video informing followers of his success in overturning an initial rejection by the Swedish police for his request to burn the Qur’an in front of the Central Mosque.

 

“The police want to impose the Qur’an and its respect on the Swedish society, which is impossible and is considered a violation of Swedish laws,” he said.

“With this book, I will also burn the Iraqi flag, which does not represent me. I will grill pork meat on top of them in front of the Iraqi Embassy. This book does not represent me, and this flag does not represent me either. I will grill pork meat on this book’s fire,” he added.

Within the same video, Momika uploaded a copy of his request to the Swedish police, notably censoring his address and ID number but keeping his personal email and phone number visible.

“Considering the potential consequences under Sweden’s new immigration laws, he chose this path to stir up trouble and receive numerous threats. This enables him to manipulate and abuse the system, providing evidence that his life is in danger, just as he claimed when leaving Iraq,” said Jerry Maher, a Swedish political writer and Middle East and Iran specialist.

Maher believes that Momika purposely exposed his identity to the public, revealing his phone number and email on his Facebook page for people to establish contact. 

“These tactics are all part of his strategy to present himself to the Swedish authorities as a victim under threat and seek protection. As a former fighter who engaged in battles in Iraq, his asylum papers and residence permit are likely at risk. Recent changes in Swedish migration laws have become more stringent, resulting in several expulsions,” added Maher.

 


India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

Updated 5 sec ago
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India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

  • Vandalism incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to killing of Sikh separatist leader in 2023 
  • Canada has accused India of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies 

SYDNEY: India foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday the vandalism of a Hindu temple in Canada on Monday was deeply concerning.
“What happened yesterday at the Hindu temple in Canada was obviously deeply concerning,” he told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra while on an official visit.
The incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023 in Canada. Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies.
The incident has increased tensions between Canada and India, and between Sikh separatists and Indian diplomats.
Two Hindu temples were also vandalized in Canberra last month, which Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said was upsetting for members of the Indian community.
“People across Australia have a right to be safe and respected, people also have a right to peaceful protest, people have a right to express their views peacefully,” she told reporters.
“We draw a line between that and violence, incitement of hatred or vandalism,” she added.
Wong said Australia had expressed its views to India about Canada’s allegations over the targeting of Sikh separatists, and Canberra respected Canada’s judicial process. Jaishankar said it was unacceptable that Indian diplomats had been placed under surveillance by Canada.
“Canada has developed a pattern of making allegations without providing specifics,” he said.


India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

Updated 05 November 2024
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India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

  • Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies

SYDNEY: India foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday the vandalism of a Hindu temple in Canada on Monday was deeply concerning.
“What happened yesterday at the Hindu temple in Canada was obviously deeply concerning,” he told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra while on an official visit.
The incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023 in Canada. Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies.
The incident has increased tensions between Canada and India, and between Sikh separatists and Indian diplomats.
Two Hindu temples were also vandalized in Canberra last month, which Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said was upsetting for members of the Indian community.
“People across Australia have a right to be safe and respected, people also have a right to peaceful protest, people have a right to express their views peacefully,” she told reporters.
“We draw a line between that and violence, incitement of hatred or vandalism,” she added.
Wong said Australia had expressed its views to India about Canada’s allegations over the targeting of Sikh separatists, and Canberra respected Canada’s judicial process. Jaishankar said it was unacceptable that Indian diplomats had been placed under surveillance by Canada.
“Canada has developed a pattern of making allegations without providing specifics,” he said.


Trump wants the presidential winner to be declared on election night. Why that’s unlikely

Updated 05 November 2024
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Trump wants the presidential winner to be declared on election night. Why that’s unlikely

Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his demands that the winner of the presidential race be declared shortly after polls close Tuesday, well before all the votes are counted.
Trump set the pattern in 2020, when he declared that he had won during the early morning hours after Election Day. That led his allies to demand that officials “stop the count!” He and many other conservatives have spent the past four years falsely claiming that fraud cost him that election and bemoaning how long it takes to count ballots in the US
But one of many reasons we are unlikely to know the winner quickly on election night is that Republican lawmakers in two key swing states have refused to change laws that delay the count. Another is that most indications are this will be a very close election, and it takes longer to determine who won close elections than blowouts.
In the end, election experts note, the priority in vote-counting is to make sure it’s an accurate and secure tally, not to end the suspense moments after polls close.
“There’s nothing nefarious about it,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The time delay is to protect the integrity of the process.”
Trump’s demand also doesn’t seem to account for the six time zones from the East Coast to Hawaii.
David Becker, an elections expert and co-author of “The Big Truth,” debunking Trump’s 2020 election lies, said it’s not realistic for election officials in thousands of jurisdictions to “instantly snap their fingers and count 160 million multi-page ballots with dozens of races on them.”
Trump wants the race decided Tuesday night
During a Sunday rally in Pennsylvania, Trump demanded that the race be decided soon after some polls begin closing.
“They have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,” Trump said. “Bunch of crooked people. These are crooked people.”
It was not clear who he was targeting with the “crooked people” remark.
Timing is one example of why Trump’s demands don’t match the reality of conducting elections in the US By 11 p.m. Eastern time, polls will just be closing in the two Western swing states of Arizona and Nevada.
Trump has led conservatives to bemoan that the US doesn’t count elections as swiftly as France or Argentina, where results for recent races have been announced within hours of polls closing. But that’s because those countries tabulate only a single election at a time. The decentralized US system prevents the federal government from controlling elections.
Instead, votes are counted in nearly 10,000 separate jurisdictions, each of which has its own races for the state legislature, city council, school boards and ballot measures to tabulate at the same time. That’s why it takes longer for the US to count votes.
Declaring a winner can take time
The Associated Press calls races when there is no possibility that the trailing candidate can make up the gap. Sometimes, if one candidate is significantly behind, a winner can be called quickly. But if the margin is narrow, then every last vote could matter. It takes a while before every vote is counted even in the most efficient jurisdictions in the country.
In 2018, for example, Republican Rick Scott won the US Senate race in Florida, a state conservatives regularly praise for its quick tally. But the AP didn’t call Scott’s victory until after the conclusion of a recount on Nov. 20 because Scott’s margin was so slim.
It also takes time to count every one of the millions of votes because election officials have to process disputed, or “provisional,” ballots, and to see if they were legitimately cast. Overseas ballots from military members or other US citizens abroad can trickle in at the last minute. Mail ballots usually land early, but there’s a lengthy process to make sure they’re not cast fraudulently. If that process doesn’t start before Election Day, it can back up the count.
Some states, such as Arizona, also give voters whose mail ballots were rejected because the signatures didn’t match up to five days to prove they actually cast the ballot. That means final numbers simply cannot be available Tuesday night.
Election rules are to blame in some states
Some of the sluggishness is due to state-specific election rules. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two of the most important swing states, election officials for years have pleaded with Republican lawmakers to change the law that prevents them from processing their mail ballots before Election Day. That means mail ballots get tallied late, and frequently the results don’t start to get reported until after Election Day.
Democrats have traditionally dominated mail voting, which has made it seem like Republicans are in the lead until the early hours of the next morning, when Democratic mail votes finally get added to the tally. Experts even have names for this from past elections — the “red mirage” or the “blue shift.” Trump exploited that dynamic in 2020 when he had his supporters demand an abrupt end to vote counts — the ballots that remained untallied were largely mail ones that were for Joe Biden. It’s not clear how that will play out this year, since Republicans have shifted and voted in big numbers during early voting.
Michigan used to have similar restrictions, but after Democrats won control of the state Legislature in 2022 they removed the prohibition on early processing of mail ballots. That state’s Democratic Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, said she hopes to have most results available by Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, chief election officials are the folks who have the ability to provide those accurate results. Americans should focus on what they say and not what any specific candidate or folks who are part of the campaign say,” said Jen Easterly, director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Trump allies urge him to declare victory swiftly
Some of Trump’s allies say he should be even more aggressive about declaring victory this time around.
Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who in 2020 predicted the then-president would declare victory before the race was called, advocated for a similar strategy during a recent press conference after he was released from federal prison, where he was serving time for a contempt of Congress conviction related to the investigation into Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in 2020.
“President Trump came up at 2:30 in the morning and talked,” Bannon said. “He should have done it at 11 o’clock in 2020.”
Other Trump supporters have taken a darker tone. His former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, suggested during a recent interview on the right-wing American Truth Project podcast that violence could erupt in states still counting ballots the day after Election Day because people “are just not going to put up with it.”
Trying to project a sense of inevitability about a Trump win, the former president and his supporters have been touting early vote data and favorable polls to contend the election is all but over. Republicans have returned to voting early after largely staying away at Trump’s direction in 2020 and 2022. In some swing states that track party registration, registered Republicans are outvoting Democrats in early voting.
But that doesn’t mean Republicans are ahead in any meaningful sense. Early voting data does not tell you who will win an election because it only records who voted, not how they voted.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been explicitly targeting Republicans disillusioned by Trump. In each of those states where more Republicans have voted, there also are huge numbers of voters casting early ballots who are not registered with either of the two major political parties. If Harris won just a tiny fraction more of those votes than Trump, it would erase the small leads Republicans have.
There’s only one way to find out who won the presidential election: Wait until enough votes are tallied, whenever that is.


‘Panic buttons,’ SWAT teams: US braces for election unrest

Updated 05 November 2024
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‘Panic buttons,’ SWAT teams: US braces for election unrest

WASHINGTON: Panic buttons for poll workers, special weapons teams deployed on rooftops, and hundreds of National Guard personnel on standby.
The 2024 US presidential campaign has been a particularly volatile one, and security for Election Day on Tuesday is being ramped up to unprecedented levels given concerns over possible civil unrest, election chicanery, or violence against election workers.
The states of Oregon, Washington and Nevada have activated the National Guard — and the Pentagon says at least 17 states have placed a total of 600 National Guard troops on standby if needed.
The FBI has set up a national election command post in Washington to monitor threats 24 hours a day through election week, and security has been bolstered at many of the nearly 100,000 US polling stations.
Nineteen states have enacted election security enhancement laws since 2020, the National Conference of State Legislatures says.
With Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump deadlocked at the climax of the 2024 race, authorities are keen to reassure jittery Americans that their votes are secure. But they are also bolstering physical security for election operations nationwide.
Runbeck Election Services, which provides security technology for poll operations, confirmed to AFP Monday it has ordered some 1,000 panic buttons for clients that include election facilities and their workers.
These small devices, worn as a lanyard or held in a pocket, are paired with a user’s cell phone and contact law enforcement or other authorities in case of emergency.
Officials in the seven key swing states are eager to convey confidence in a secure and fair election.
“Here in Georgia, it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. Our systems are secure and our people are ready,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters on Monday.
Fringe activists might bring some “extra drama” to the proceedings, he said.
But Raffensperger added he expects the election to be safe in Georgia, where Trump faces criminal charges over his interference in the 2020 election.
In Arizona, a southwestern swing state that became a fulcrum of election night unrest and conspiracy theories that year, officials have turned the state’s main election and ballot counting facility, in Maricopa County, into a veritable fortress.
It now has wrought-iron fencing, barbed wire, armed guards and a SWAT presence on the roof, according to officials.
“Since January of 2021, our office has increased badge security access, installed permanent barriers, and added additional cybersecurity measures based on the recommendations of law enforcement and other experts,” Taylor Kinnerup, communications director for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, told AFP on Monday.


Pennsylvania’s Department of State, which oversees elections in the nation’s largest swing state, said its preparation includes defenses of infrastructure and partnerships with security and law enforcement agencies, although it did not provide details.
The new layers of security follow the election chaos from 2020, particularly after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021 aiming to halt certification of the election results that confirmed Joe Biden as the winner.
Officials are also warning of major cyber and hacking threats, particularly from abroad.
Russia, Iran and China are conducting influence operations to undermine American confidence in election legitimacy and “stoke partisan discord,” Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Jen Easterly recently told NBC News.
This “firehose of disinformation,” she added, is “creating very real physical threats to election workers.”
Meanwhile in Washington, high metal fencing has been erected around the vice president’s residence and the White House, and some shopfronts have been boarded up.
“There will be no tolerance for violence in our city,” DC Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters Monday.
“Should it require additional time to know the results of this election, we want everyone to know that we are ready to handle many different scenarios, and we have the right people in place to keep our city safe,” she said.


Thousands protest alleged election fraud in Georgia

Updated 05 November 2024
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Thousands protest alleged election fraud in Georgia

  • Protesters have accused Georgian Dream of derailing the country’s goal of joining the European Union

TBILISI: Several thousand Georgians protested in Tbilisi on Monday over alleged election rigging by the governing party and Russian interference in last month’s parliament election, which the opposition denounced as “stolen.”
The pro-Western opposition has refused to recognize the ruling Georgian Dream party’s win in the October 26 election or to enter the newly elected parliament, which it calls “illegitimate.”
The European Union and the United States blasted “irregularities” in the vote, while Georgian Dream’s opponents have accused it of putting the Caucasus country on a pro-Kremlin track.
Protesters gathered outside Georgia’s parliament on Monday evening, blocking traffic on Tbilisi’s main road, after opposition groups called on supporters to take to the streets.
“The Georgian people will never accept falsified election results, an invincible protest movement is rising up and it will sweep away the regime, which has stolen our votes,” the leader of the Akhali party, Nika Melia, told the crowd.
He vowed daily protests, with the next rally set for Tuesday.
Mamuka Khazaradze, leader of the Coalition for Change, said: “We demand a fresh vote, an international investigation into election falsification, and we will not surrender until our objectives are met.”
President Salome Zurabishvili — who is at loggerheads with the governing party — also called the vote “illegitimate” and accused Russia of interference.
Moscow has denied meddling.
“We have no choice but to take to the streets every day to show our government and the world that Georgians will never put up with rigged elections,” one of the demonstrators, 25-year-old shop assistant Lidia Kirtadze, told AFP.
Protesters have accused Georgian Dream of derailing the country’s goal of joining the European Union.
“Russia and its stooges in our government want to steal not only the choice of the Georgian people but also our European future,” said Leo Grigalashvili, a 49-year-old winemaker.
“We will never accept this.”
Ahead of the election, Brussels had warned it would determine Georgia’s chances of joining the bloc.
“The situation following the elections remains concerning,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told Zurabishvili during a phone call on Monday.
“If Georgia wants to keep a strategic orientation toward the EU, we need concrete actions from the leadership,” she said on X.
On Monday, a court in Georgia’s southern town of Tetritskaro ordered the annulment of election results from several precincts over violations of ballot secrecy.
Georgian rights groups said the ruling sets an important judicial precedent as the same violation had been observed at around 70 percent of polling stations.
A group of Georgia’s leading election monitors said earlier that they had uncovered evidence of a complex scheme of large-scale electoral fraud that swayed results in favor of Georgian Dream.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the alleged fraud.
Monday’s protest came after tens of thousands gathered in a demonstration in the capital city last week.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said the elections were “entirely fair.”
But critics have blamed his increasingly conservative Georgian Dream for bringing Tbilisi back into Moscow’s orbit.