- Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has taken swift action in response to a recent incident in Sweden where a protester desecrated a copy of the Qur’an. Following the desecration, angry protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire.
- In retaliation, Iraq ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from the country and withdrew its own charge d’affaires from Sweden.
Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian living in Sweden, disrespected the Qur’an in Stockholm. Momika also stepped on and kicked an Iraqi flag and photographs of al-Sadr and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Thursday, Iraq had warned a severing of diplomatic ties between Sweden if in the event the desecration of the Qur’an occurred again. In response to the desecration of the Qur’an, demonstrators in Iraq, entered the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it ablaze.
Several people including journalists and a handful of counter-demonstrators who chanted religious slogans watched the demonstration from behind police barricades as plainclothes and uniformed officers stood by.
In response to the repeated permission of the Swedish government to ‘burn the holy Qur’an and burn the Iraqi flag’, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani has issued instructions to his nation’s Foreign Ministry, directing the recall of its charge d’affaires in Stockholm. Furthermore, the premier’s office conveyed through Twitter that Al Sudani also made a formal request to the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to depart from the country.
The rest of the Muslim world reacts
In Afghanistan, the Taliban reacted to the recent incident by suspending activities of Swedish organisations in the country.
On Friday, Qatar urgently summoned Sweden’s ambassador and delivered a stern protest note regarding the recent events in Stockholm. The Qatari foreign ministry issued a statement demanding that Swedish authorities take immediate action to halt these disgraceful actions.
Similarly, Saudi Arabia summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Riyadh and handed them a note of protest.
Turkey expressed its strong condemnation of the incident as a “despicable attack” and urged Sweden to take “decisive measures to prevent this hateful crime” against Islam. In an official statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned the targeting of their sacred book and called for swift action to address the situation.
Iran’s foreign ministry summoned Sweden’s ambassador in Tehran on Thursday to “strongly protest against the desecration of the holy Qur’an”, state media reported.
Lebanese Muslims also participated in a demonstration to condemn the desecration of the holy Qur’an in Beirut.
It is worth noting that for 2 billion Muslims worldwide, the desecration of the Qur’an remains a deeply offensive act.
