Angry over planned desecration: Iraq protesters storm, torch Swedish embassy

BAGHDAD: Iraq on Thursday expelled Sweden’s ambassador after a man stomped on a copy of the Holy Quran at a Stockholm demonstration just hours after the Swedish embassy in Baghdad was torched over the planned protest.

Sweden-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, 37, stomped and kicked the Holy Quran but left the protest without burning it, just weeks after he set fire to pages of the book outside Stockholm’s main mosque. Around the time of Thursday’s protest in Stockholm, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed al-Sudani “instructed the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory”, according to a statement by his office.

It said the decision was “prompted by the Swedish government’s repeated permission for the burning of the holy Quran, insulting Islamic sanctities and the burning of the Iraqi flag”. Overnight protesters had breached and set fires within the compound of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and clashed with riot police, prompting an emergency meeting with the prime minister.

The Iraqi government strongly condemned the embassy attack but also issued a warning to Sweden if it allowed the second Quran burning protest to go forward. Baghdad had informed Stockholm “that any recurrence of the incident involving the burning of the Holy Quran on Swedish soil would necessitate severing diplomatic relations,” according to a statement from Sudani’s office.

Swedish police had granted a permit for the protest in line with Swedish legislation on the rights to freedom of assembly and speech. “The constitution states that a lot is needed to deny a person a permit for a public gathering so the day before yesterday we granted a permit for a private individual to protest,” Ola Osterling with the Stockholm police told AFP. Hundreds massed at the Baghdad embassy, as they had done in response to the previous Stockholm protest, scaled the walls and torched parts of it.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom later said Iraq’s charge d’affaires would be summoned. “What has happened is completely unacceptable and the government condemns these attacks in the strongest terms,” he said in a statement.

Sudani “strongly condemned burning the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, viewing it as a serious security breach requiring immediate action”, the Iraqi government statement said. “Those accountable for security must be held responsible,” it added, as an Iraqi security source told AFP about 20 protesters had been taken into custody.

Iraq also said it “reaffirms its commitment to ensuring the security and protection of all diplomatic missions, vowing to confront any attacks targeted at them”.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday condemned in the “strongest possible terms” yet another Islamophobic act of public desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden. “Permission to carry out premeditated and provocative acts of religious hatred cannot be justified under the guise of freedom of expression, opinion and protest,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said that international law categorically obliged states to prevent and prohibit deliberate incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence on the basis of religion or belief. The disturbing recurrence of such Islamophobic incidents, which have hurt the sentiments of over 2 billion Muslims worldwide, is both legally and morally reprehensible.

The spokesperson reiterated Pakistan’s call on the international community to unequivocally condemn these Islamophobic acts, isolate those who stoke religious hatred, build deterrence and promote mutual respect, tolerance and harmony among religions, faiths and cultures. “We expect the Swedish authorities to take all measures necessary to stop such acts of hatred and incitement. Pakistan’s concerns about the latest incident are being conveyed to the Swedish authorities,” the FO spokesperson added.