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And the other one is desperate to be given asylum in the United States, for he has lost faith in the Swedish government’s ability to protect him. His story, and that of his murdered friend, should be covered on 60 Minutes and in the New York Times, while Senator John Fetterman and Congressmen Ritchie Torres should demand that the survivor of the pair, now in the U.S., at once be granted permanent asylum.
This is the tale of two brave ex-Muslims in Sweden, who dared to set fire to a Qur’an, leading to the murder of one, Salwan Momika, and to the anguish of the other, Salwan Najem, who fled to the United States, where he is still wailing to granted permanent asylum.. More of the story can be found here: “Now Seeking U.S. Asylum, the Critic of Islam Sweden Won’t Protect,” European Conservative, January 16, 2026:
Following his conviction for incitement against an ethnic group—and the murder of his co-defendant Salwan Momika—a prominent opponent of Islam critic has fled Sweden and is now seeking asylum in America.
The Swedish court was wrong to convict Salwan Momika of “incitement against an ethnic group.” In burning a Qur’an, the two ex-Muslims were not inciting violence against an ethnic group. Muslims are not an ethnic group, nor are they a race. Furthermore, Momika and Najem were not trying to incite violence against anyone when they set fire to the Qur’an; they were merely engaged in a symbolic act of disaffection with Islam, the religion into which they had been born, and an act, too, of defiance of those who would wish as a result to harm them. They were no doubt hoping, too, by such an act of bravery to give heart to others who might be on the verge of abandoning Islam.
Salwan Najem—who carried out several high-profile Quran burnings with Momika in the summer of 2023—left Sweden during the spring and entered the United States, where he is currently detained while awaiting review of his asylum application.
The move came after a series of legal and security events that the activist says made his situation in Sweden untenable. On January 29th last year Najem’s co-defendant Salwan Momika was shot dead in his apartment in Södertälje while livestreaming on TikTok. The likely reason for Momika’s execution was his harsh and vocal criticisms of Islam.
The murder, believed to be a contract killing, occurred despite Momika reportedly being at a police-protected address. Following the crime, Najem was placed under the protection of the Swedish Security Service (Säpo), but lost confidence that the state could guarantee his safety.
Najem was convicted of four counts of incitement against an ethnic group for his Quran burnings, a verdict upheld by the Svea Court of Appeal. In January 2026, the Supreme Court declined to grant leave to appeal. Najem has described the verdict as punishment for his views, claiming Sweden has effectively reinstated a ban on blasphemy.
The Swedish courts, as I noted above, were wrong to convict Salwan Najem of “incitement against an ethnic group.” They were trying to enforce a nonexistent blasphemy law, by which anything that Muslims judge to be blasphemy will be treated as such, and the blasphemers punished. In that way, the state of Sweden has become an enforcer of Muslim censorship, and the people of Sweden are that much closer to the Islamization of their own societies.
I allow myself to believe that there is still a sufficient number of sensible, and sensibly alarmed, Swedes who will denounce the decisions of their courts in convicting the two ex-Muslims of “inciting against an ethnic group.” Perhaps there are still Swedish politicians, lawyers, professors, and journalists who will raise their voices against this miscarriage of justice, and against the Swedish courts to protect the right of free speech, including symbolic speech, for these ex-Muslims and for anyone else who chooses to copy their defiant display.
