Between freedom of expression and an insult to religion, the Swedish government has faced incomprehension and anger from Muslim countries in recent days after granting permission to protesters despite their intention to burn a copy of the Koran. La Dépêche du Midi takes stock.
On Thursday night, July 20, Iraqi demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire. These acts of violence come in response to the Swedish government’s approval of a demonstration by Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, to burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag outside a mosque in Stockholm.
Who is Salwan Momika?
At the root of these clashes is a 37-year-old Iraqi who fled Iraq in 2018 to seek refuge in Sweden, where he was granted refugee status in 2021. According to Les Observateurs de France 24, Salwan Momika would have been in charge within an Iraqi militia near Tehran until 2014, and then by 2017 would have been at the head of Mosul’s paramilitaries fighting Daesh. Since arriving on Swedish territory, he has been in touch with the country’s far-right party.
However, on his Facebook profile, Salwan Momika presents himself as “thinker and writer, free atheist without affiliation” and specifies that “there are no limits to my ideas and my pen, I invite everyone to investigate, reflect and doubt”.
When did the diplomatic crisis begin?
On June 28, on the occasion of the world’s most important Muslim holiday, Eid Al-Adha, Salwan Momika trampled on the Koran, stuck a few slices of bacon in it and then burned several pages of the holy book in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque. This demonstration, which was authorized by the Swedish courts, was condemned by the international community, calling it “disrespectful”, “offensive” and “irresponsible”. Following this desecration, supporters of the Shia religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad without any real consequences.
Nevertheless, the Swedish judiciary has again approved the holding of a “mini-rally” this Thursday in Stockholm on the initiative of Salwan Momika. After the latter stated in his request that he wanted to burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag, the lack of understanding by Muslim countries about Sweden’s approval reignited disputes in Iraq.
Where are the tensions between Sweden and Muslim countries?
To justify the court’s decision to allow the demonstration, Swedish police clarified that the permit was not an official request to burn religious texts, but a simple public assembly, a constitutional right of freedom of assembly.
In response, many Muslim countries condemned the Swedish decision. Iraq has taken several rare diplomatic actions, such as ordering the departure of Sweden’s ambassador to Iraq, recalling its diplomatic representative and suspending the license of Ericsson, the Swedish telecoms giant.
For its part, Saudi Arabia asserted that freedom of expression “should promote peaceful coexistence and not provoke a clash of cultures”. Morocco condemned an “offensive and irresponsible” act and recalled its ambassador. Finally, Turkey, which had long blocked Sweden’s entry into NATO, condemned Stockholm and called on it to “take dissuasive measures” to prevent another similar act.