Momika, together with his accomplice Salwan Najem, carried out a series of anti-Islamic demonstrations in Sweden last summer, several of which involved him burning copies of the Quran, the holy book of Islam.
Najem was also charged on Wednesday on four counts of incitement against an ethnic group (hets mot folkgrupp) and one count of benefit fraud.
The evidence against them is primarily video evidence, according to the prosecutor.
“The two men have both been charged with making statements and handling a Quran on these four occasions in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims on account of their faith,” senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio wrote in a statement.
“It is my opinion that the men’s statements and actions consist of incitement against an ethnic group, and it’s important that it is tried in court,” she added.
Momika’s Quran burnings sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in Muslim countries.
Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, 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.
Sweden’s intelligence agency heightened its terror alert level last summer to four on a scale of five after the angry reactions made the country a “prioritised target”.
The Swedish Migration Agency revoked Momika’s residency permit in October 2023, citing false information in his original application, but he was granted a temporary one as it said there was an “impediment to enforcement” of a deportation to Iraq.
The month before, Iraq had requested his extradition over one of the Quran burnings.
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Momika moved from Sweden to Norway in March earlier this year, planning to seek asylum after his residency permit in Sweden was revoked. He was arrested in Norway on March 28th, one day after arriving and detained before he was deported back to Sweden in April.
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Someone needs to explain how a religion is magically transformed into an ethnicity.
And how is it free speech if you’re not free to speak about certain topics?
I’ve lived in a middle eastern country almost all my life,under the dread and horror of violent and oppressive Islamic ideology,it’s a shame to see that you are so influenced by tactics and propaganda of extremist political-ideological groups like Ikhvan al moslemin,that you can’t anymore distinct between dangerous and regressive islamic ideology and people,any ideology should be harshly and constantly criticized and bashed,let alone a very primitive like Islam.don’t sell your freedom so short.