In an exclusive interview, Sabah Momika, father of the murdered Koran burner Salwan Momika, reveals that police have secured fingerprints potentially linked to his son's killer. Despite this, the investigation risks becoming a cold case. Sabah Momika criticizes Sweden for failing to protect his son, who was killed in his Södertälje home. The police suspect a foreign assassin, possibly linked to Iran, was involved in the murder, which was allegedly motivated by Salwan's controversial actions.
Father of Koran Burner Salwan Momika: Police Secure Fingerprints in Murder Case
Father of Koran Burner Salwan Momika: Police Secure Fingerprints in Murder Case
Police have secured fingerprints after the murder of Koran burner Salwan Momika, his father Sabah Momika reveals in an exclusive interview with Expressen. Despite this, the investigation risks becoming a cold case.
"We will never accept that," says Sabah Momika. According to Expressen, the police theory is that the act was carried out by a hired assassin.
A worn wooden staircase leads up to a small apartment with windows facing the street. Here, in a suburb of Cologne, Germany, lives Sabah Momika. He is a former Iraqi military officer and father to Koran burner Salwan Momika, who was murdered in his home in Södertälje in January.
"I knew he would be killed. Fifty-seven Muslim countries against him. Islamists are everywhere in Europe. It was obvious that he would be murdered one day," says Sabah Momika when Expressen meets him on a late summer day.
For long periods, he avoided direct contact with his son but followed him on TikTok. The Koran burnings created great frustration within the family.
"I advised him against burning the Koran."
"Didn't Believe It Was True"
Sabah Momika watched his son's live broadcast that fateful night in January but went to bed before the murderer struck.
"I woke up in the morning and discovered that the entire TikTok feed was about Salwan's death. I didn't believe it was true. He used to do such foolish things to provoke. But when Swedish news channels started broadcasting from the area outside the apartment in Stockholm, I realized it was true," he says.
When three German police officers knocked on his apartment door in Cologne, there was no longer any doubt.
"They offered me help and protection. I got a direct number to the police in case anything happened to me."
Grief hangs heavy in the apartment in Cologne. In February, his son received a discreet Christian burial in Sweden.
The family also met with Swedish police. Sabah Momika says the investigators are secretive about the circumstances. But when he visited his son's apartment, he discovered something that caught his attention: Part of the bathroom door had been cut away.
"I was surprised and asked what it was. The police said they had secured fingerprints that might belong to the perpetrator," says Sabah Momika.
"Everything points to the perpetrator being inside the apartment, inside the bathroom."
Sabah Momika has seen his dead son.
"I saw three shots in his forehead—one here, one here, and one here," he says, pointing to his own head.
According to Expressen, the police theory is that a foreign power, specifically Iran, is behind the murder. The hired assassin is believed to have infiltrated Salwan Momika's circle, allowing close surveillance. The motive for the murder was allegedly to make a statement against Momika's desecration of the Koran.
Theory: Murderer Entered Through the Attic
Immediately after the murder, police broke down the door to Salwan Momika's apartment. His TikTok broadcast was still running.
The murderer is believed to have entered the eighth-floor apartment via the roof. As previously reported by Expressen, police technicians have shown interest in the attic above Salwan Momika's apartment and have cut out a window-sized section of the wall.
"But if the perpetrator climbed down from the roof, who gave him the key to the attic?" his father asks.
Initially, police arrested five people, but they were later cleared from the investigation. Since then, prosecutor Rasmus Öman has made statements that Sabah Momika interprets with concern.
"We'll see what we come up with in the future, simply," he told Expressen in April.
"Something additional is needed now for us to move forward. You can't investigate crimes indefinitely; that's the case in all matters," he told SVT News in May.
Sabah Momika fears that his son's murder will soon become a cold case.
"We in the family place all responsibility for the murder on Sweden. We will never accept that the case becomes a cold case."
But Sweden granted him residency, a secret address, and is now investigating the murder. Why do you blame Sweden?
"It is Sweden that bears responsibility for his death. They removed his protection, stopped his health insurance, and ended his social benefits. They left him as a weak and confused person. He was trapped in an apartment and threatened by Islamists. It is Sweden that bears full responsibility for his death. They let him be murdered," says Sabah Momika.
Expressen has asked prosecutor Rasmus Öman about the investigation, but he remains tight-lipped:
"The preliminary investigation is still ongoing. I cannot comment further on the course of events other than that he was shot dead in an apartment in Södertälje."
"Unfortunately, I cannot comment on any theories or potential problem areas."