The Iraqi who burned pages from the Koran in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday has announced further actions of this kind. The burning has sparked massive criticism in the Muslim world.
Despite strong protests from Muslim states against burning the Koran in Sweden, the man responsible for it has announced further actions. The native Iraqi had already burned some pages of the Koran in front of the Great Mosque in Stockholm on Wednesday.
In an interview with the newspaper Expressen, the 37-year-old announced that he would “burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm within ten days.” He knew that the burning on Wednesday, the first day of the Islamic festival of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, would trigger counter-reactions. From his point of view, however, it is not a “hate crime” or “incitement against a group”, but falls under freedom of expression. The man himself fled from Iraq to Sweden.
The action was authorized by police after a Stockholm court ruled in April that a ban on burning the Koran at protests was unlawful. Despite this, the Swedish police have launched an investigation into the Iraqi for “incitement against an ethnic group”, as reported by the AFP news agency.
Iran and Iraq summon Swedish representatives
In response to the burning, Iraq and Iran have each summoned the Swedish government representative to their country.
The Iranian foreign minister warned on Twitter: “The West only burns its fingers.” Abusing democracy and freedom for such actions will only fuel terrorism and extremism. His ministry also said the burning was particularly offensive given the Muslim festival of sacrifice and the Hajj pilgrimage.
Protesters had previously gathered in front of the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Raising copies of the Koran, they demanded the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador, local media reported. The influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr is said to have called for the protest.
The burning also provoked protests in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
“Insult has nothing to do with it freedom of speech to do”
The burning has also triggered massive criticism in other countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Sweden and the West as a whole for authorizing the protest. “We will ultimately teach the arrogant in the West that insulting Muslim sanctuaries has nothing to do with freedom of expression,” the Turkish leader said, according to the state news agency Anadolu. Turkey will react decisively until a “decisive victory against terrorist organizations and Islamophobia has been achieved”.
In a statement, the Arab League strongly condemned the Swedish authorities’ approval of the incineration. Sweden must oppose Islamophobic ideas and extremism instead of promoting them, it said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia said: “These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted under any justification.” They fueled hatred, exclusion and racism.
In response to the “unacceptable act,” Morocco recalled its ambassador to Sweden for “consultation indefinitely,” local news agency MAP reported. The Moroccan Foreign Ministry also summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Rabat.
“Provoked feelings from Muslims around the world”
Muslim-majority Egypt expressed a similar sentiment. “The burning of a copy of the Holy Qur’an by an extremist is a shameful act that provokes the feelings of Muslims around the world on the first day of Eid al-Adha,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said. In Jordan, the Swedish ambassador was summoned by the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah issued a statement calling on the Arab and Islamic governments to take steps to persuade other countries to “prevent the repetition of these follies on their soil and stop the spread of a culture of hatred.” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also condemned the move as “provocative” and “unacceptable”.