On a Wednesday evening at the end of January, Koran burner Salwan Momika was shot dead in his home in Södertälje. Witnesses, who followed his live broadcast on Tiktok, say that Momika went out on the balcony to smoke. Then several shots were heard.
The brothers Salim and Soumar Abdulwali live in the staircase next to her father. They live at the top of the eight -storey house and only one wooden board separates their balcony from Salwan Momikas.
– We heard bangs. But not as a shot, more like knocks. It was loud. We didn’t talk about the thing anymore, says Soumar Abdulwali.
Was arrested by police
Instead, the police knocked on the door. The brothers, their father and another man were arrested in the apartment. A fifth man who was in the home was arrested later during the night.
A press photographer took pictures when Salim Abdulwali was taken out of the property wearing a white t-shirt, shorts, slippers and brown paper bags tied around the hands. The murder became a world news and the pictures of the arrest went far beyond Sweden’s borders.
– Everyone who knows me knows that I was in the picture. My sister lives in Norrköping, she saw the picture and ran to her husband. They started calling but couldn’t reach us. It was very busy, says Salim Abdulwali.
The suspicions not written off
The five men were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder but were released on Friday the same week, less than two days after the arrest. However, the suspicions are not written off.
– Formally, no suspicion has been closed, there are still some investigative measures to be taken, says prosecutor Rasmus Öman.
At present, no one is detained in the case and the details of the police investigation are few.
– We have a preliminary assessment of how it went and that we work for, says Rasmus Öman.
SVT has previously reported that the brothers are linked to a man who was convicted of attacking Salwan Momika in 2023.
– He’s a friend of mine. We hung before, says Soumar Abdulwali.