Salwan Momika, who became world famous as a Quran burner, used to share a room with Eritrean Makele at a refugee center in Älvsbyn. One night in spring 2021, Makele was threatened with death by Salwan Momika, who came at him with a knife, before being stopped by another friend. ”I am sure he would have killed me,” says Makele, who still has nightmares about the incident.
Makele, who was born in Eritrea over 50 years ago, worked as both a soldier and a firefighter there for over 22 years, before it became too dangerous for him to stay in the country and he fled to Sweden. However, it is an incident in Älvsbyn, in northern Sweden, that haunts him at night. ”I was asleep. He had been out and returned around 11:30 p.m. We were sleeping in the same room and when he came home, he started smoking cigarettes in the room. Since I have asthma, I asked him why he was smoking indoors,” says Makele.
There are differing accounts of what happened next. ”It wasn’t just that he smoked cigarettes, he shouted that he would defecate in the bedroom next to my bed,” says Makele. ”I told him he couldn’t smoke indoors, to which he said, ’if you want, I can kill you.’ I asked what I had done for him to want to kill me, and then he got angry and went to the kitchen and came back with a knife.”
Makele claims that Salwan Momika came at him with the knife, shouting ”I will kill you, I will kill you” several times. Just a few meters from the bed, Momika was stopped by his Iraqi friend, whom he had been out with and who was also staying the night. In a police interview, Momika claimed that he hadn’t done anything at all, just washed himself, opened the windows in the apartment, and then went to bed. But Momika’s Iraqi friend, who witnessed the incident, confirmed Makele’s testimony, including the death threats, the knife, and having to physically stop him. After the incident, Makele ran to a friend’s house nearby, who then called the police, who arrived shortly after.
When Salwan Momika was questioned by the police later on, he said that both of the others were lying. Instead, he accused the man he initially described as a friend of being a spy working for the mafia. ”Eventually, Salwan realized that XX was spying on him, that he was monitoring him and providing information about him to others,” reads the police interview. ”Salwan lies a lot.”
Salwan Momika was convicted by Luleå District Court for making illegal threats and was sentenced to probation and 80 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay 10,000 SEK in compensation to Makele.
When we meet Makele one afternoon in an SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) facility in a Stockholm suburb, he has just finished a class after working a night shift as a cleaner. He tries to put the four to five months he lived with Salwan Momika in Älvsbyn behind him. Immediately after the threat, the Migration Agency moved Salwan Momika, and they haven’t seen each other since, except for the days when the court case was underway. ”It was very difficult to understand Salwan’s behavior. Usually, if I was at home and he started smoking cigarettes, I would leave. We didn’t hang out much,” says Makele.
Makele remembers that Salwan Momika had a Quran in the apartment in Älvsbyn. He would place his shoes on it when he came home. ”I asked him why he did that, and he replied, ’Because I don’t like Islam. I don’t like Muslims,”’ says Makele. In addition to studying Swedish for immigrants, Makele works as a cleaner five days and two nights a week. He hopes to be able to train as a firefighter.
He had not heard that Salwan Momika was convicted for the death threats last summer. He also claims not to have received any compensation. ”I think he should have been sentenced to imprisonment. I haven’t received any medical care or support either. Are you disappointed?” ”What I hear now does not make me happy.”
