By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 48 minutes ago, updated 33 minutes ago
Salwan Momika, holding a Koran, outside a mosque in Stockholm June 28, 2023. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP
For its part, Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador and recalled its own representative in Sweden in response to the renewed desecration of the Koran in Stockholm.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have summoned representatives of Swedish diplomatic missions in their countries to denounce Stockholm’s approval of Koran desecration.
“A protest note calling in particular on the Swedish authorities to take all immediate and necessary measures to put an end to these shameful acts” will be presented to the Swedish chargé d’affaires, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Thursday evening, July 20.
Strong diplomatic responses
Iraq on Thursday ordered the expulsion of Sweden’s ambassador and recalled its own representative in Sweden in response to renewed Koran desecration in Stockholm, an initiative that also led to an attack on the Baghdad embassy, which was torched by protesters. Iraqi authorities have also announced they would suspend Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson’s license in the country.
Another country in the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran, summoned the Swedish ambassador in Tehran on Thursday evening and asked Stockholm to stop authorizing the desecration of the Koran. “We strongly condemn the repeated desecration of the Holy Qur’an… in Sweden and hold the Swedish government responsible for the consequences of provoking the feelings of Muslims around the world,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said. “Any insult to religious shrines and sacred books, anywhere and by anyone, is condemned,” he said.
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“Condemn Immediately”
In addition, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said he had sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General condemning the desecration of the Koran and urging him to “condemn this act immediately and take the necessary measures as soon as possible to prevent it from happening again”. According to the state television station, after Friday prayers, the Iranian authorities called for demonstrations across the country to denounce the “desecration of the Holy Koran”.
In Beirut on Thursday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador to Lebanon and called for demonstrations. “This is the minimum required,” added the leader of the powerful Shia Muslim party. The Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) spoke of a “new provocative act”, its secretary general Hissein Brahim Taha called on Stockholm “to no longer issue permits (for meetings, editor’s note) to extremist groups and individuals”.
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