The Iraqi prime minister on Thursday ordered the expulsion of Sweden’s ambassador to Baghdad ahead of a rally in Stockholm where a man threatened to burn a copy of the Koran.
• Also read: The Swedish embassy in Baghdad was set on fire during protests
• Also read: According to one report, religious freedom is under threat in “one in three countries” by 2023
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani “has asked the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory,” his office said in a statement, adding that the Iraqi chargé d’affaires in Stockholm had been recalled.
This decision follows, according to the same source, “repeated incidents of desecration of the Holy Qur’an” with the permission of the Swedish government, “insults to Islamic sanctuaries and the burning of the Iraqi flag.”
For his part, the President of the Iraqi Media and Telecommunications Authority, Ali Al-Mouayad, has “suspended the operating license of the Swedish company Ericsson on Iraqi territory,” according to a press release, citing “the permission of the Swedish state, the Koran and the Iraqi flag” as the reason for this decision to burn.
On Thursday, a man trampled on the Koran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm but decided not to burn it, an AFP journalist reported. He was approached by an audience of a few dozen people, most of whom were hostile to his gesture.
One of the organizers of the Stockholm rally, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, announced on Facebook that he intended to burn a copy of the Koran and an Iraqi flag.
In protest, the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was torched before dawn Thursday during a demonstration organized by supporters of religious leader Moqtada Sadr.
“What happened is completely unacceptable,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.
On Thursday, participants at a security meeting chaired by the prime minister condemned “the embassy fire” and considered it “a security breach”.
Referring to the burnings, the Iraqi government also denounced “provocative gestures” that “incited a culture of violence and hatred.”
Salwan Momika had previously burned several pages of a copy of the Koran outside the largest mosque in Stockholm on June 28 on Eid al-Adha Day, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world.