The fate of Salwan Momika, a 38-year-old Iraqi refugee in Sweden known for his controversial Quran-burning protests, is unclear.

Momika was on Thursday reported to have been shot dead in his apartment in Södertälje. While several media outlets and social media posts claim he was killed, Swedish authorities have yet to officially confirm the incident.

Momika, who had been facing legal charges over his controversial protests, has once again become the centre of a debate on free speech and religious sentiments.

AFP reported, "A man who repeatedly burnt the Koran in 2023 in Sweden, sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, media reported Thursday, with police confirming a man died in a shooting the day before. A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Korans at a slew of protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred. It postponed the ruling, saying 'one of the defendants has died’."

A user wrote on X: "A man who burned the Quran was murdered in Sweden tonight. So much for 'freedom of speech' in Sweden."

On Eid in June 2023, Momika had stunned the world as he stomped on a copy of the Muslim holy book and then burnt it in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque. A friend filmed the act, which triggered widespread outrage across Muslim-majority countries.

Momika moved out of Iraq in 2018, seeking asylum. He was granted a Swedish residency permit in 2021.

This is not the first time that there have been rumours about Momika's death. In April last year, social media were flooded with reports about his death.

Momika broke his silence on the death reports in a series of tweets on X. "My friends, I'm not okay. I pay the price of freedom and the price of the word truth. The whole world is against me and Norway fired a bullet into the heart of freedom," he said on April 11, 2024.

Momika had reportedly travelled to Norway after he was denied an asylum bid by Sweden.

He had said he was arrested the moment he entered Norway and the false death reports were circulated to intimidate people who criticised or doubted Islam.

"The newspapers and news sites that published the news of my death in Norway are false and their goal is to intimidate everyone who doubts or criticizes Islam. Therefore, I say, your rumors and false media will not scare us. I am alive and will not surrender despite the injustice I was subjected to by the Norwegian authorities," he had said in another post.