Belgium charges Iraqi TikTok creator over terror threat

Shafaq News- Brussels

Belgian federal prosecutors have charged an Iraqi TikTok creator with inciting a terrorist crime over a video in which he allegedly threatened to kill fellow Iraqi Salwan Momika, the organizer of Quran-burning protests in Sweden, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) reported on Thursday.

Identified as Safa al-Owaidi, 33, he has lived in the Belgian city of Antwerp for the past 11 years and has nearly one million followers on TikTok. Al-Owaidi maintained that the remarks were intended as a joke, but federal prosecutors determined that the comments constituted incitement to commit a terrorist crime and moved forward with criminal charges.

Momika staged a series of protests in Sweden during which copies of the Quran were burned, drawing widespread condemnation across the Muslim world. In January 2025, Swedish authorities confirmed that Momika was shot dead in the capital, Stockholm. Police detained five people on suspicion of involvement in the killing.