The Stockholm government is also trying to calm the atmosphere of anger in many Islamic countries.
The Koran burning in Sweden last week not only led to mass protests in Islamic countries. The United Nations Human Rights Council is also reacting to this with an urgent debate. Pakistan asked on behalf of several states to “discuss the alarming increase in public and deliberate acts of religious hatred, which are currently manifesting themselves in the desecration of the Quran in Europe and other countries”. The debate is due later this week, a UN spokesman in Geneva said on Tuesday.
In Sweden itself, politicians are trying to calm the heated atmosphere. “Even if burning the Koran is legal in Sweden, the government does not consider it respectful,” said Conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristesson, who is supported by Sweden’s Islam-critical Democrats in parliament. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also strongly condemned the action: burning the Koran or other holy texts was an “insulting and disrespectful act and a clear provocation”. And further: “Expressions of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place in Sweden or Europe”.
The burning of the Koran in front of a mosque by a 37-year-old Iraqi man who fled to Sweden has been approved by police in Stockholm. A court ruled in April that the ban on burning the Koran during protests was illegal. However, Swedish police have opened an investigation against the Iraqi for “incitement against an ethnic group”.
UN Human Rights Council spokesman Pascal Sim said “the Council will discuss the alarming increase in deliberate and public acts of religious hatred as reflected in the desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries”. In Sweden alone, recently there have been several Koran burnings. In recent weeks, many Muslims around the world have been upset that a cremation was approved in Stockholm on the same day that Muslims celebrate one of their most important holidays – Eid al-Adha. Iraqi Salwan Momika rubbed his shoes with pages of the Koran and then burned some pages. The result was strong reactions in Islamic countries. The Swedish embassy in Iraq was raided last Thursday. The team managed to arrive safely in time.
Pope Francis has also strongly condemned the burning of the Koran. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (IKO) held an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia. “We must remind the international community of the urgent need to introduce an international law that unequivocally prohibits the promotion of religious hatred,” said IKO Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha.