2023-07-25 01:16:52
Algeria announced on Monday evening that it had summoned the diplomatic representatives of Denmark and Sweden to protest against recent desecrations of the Koran in Copenhagen and Stockholm.
“Following the recurrence of incidents of burning and desecration of the Holy Quran in Copenhagen and Stockholm, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned, on Monday, the Danish ambassador and the charge d’affaires at the Swedish embassy in Algeria, to inform them of Algeria’s official protest,” said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Algiers also expressed “its firm condemnation of these immoral and uncivil acts which target everything that is sacred to Muslims everywhere in the world”, according to the press release. The statement stresses that it has been “brought to the attention of diplomats that such acts, by their appalling and despicable nature, in no way fall within the scope of freedom of expression, as falsely claimed by those who defend, advocate and profit from them”.
Swedish ambassador expelled from Iraq
Algeria urged Denmark and Sweden to “take all necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts, hated by all monotheistic religions, laws and international customs”. “These reprehensible acts, contrary to the values of tolerance and coexistence, are likely to rekindle hatred and fuel Islamophobia,” the statement concluded.
Sweden was the target of major protests last week in Baghdad after two events in Stockholm to desecrate the Koran.
The instigator of the desecrations, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee, had set fire to pages of the book at the end of June, before trampling it and tearing it to pieces last Thursday in the Swedish capital.
In reaction to the authorization given by the Swedish police for this rally, supporters of the influential Iraqi religious leader Moqtada Sadr invaded and set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad shortly before dawn on Thursday.
Baghdad also ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador to Iraq and announced the suspension of the Swedish telecommunications equipment giant Ericsson’s license in the country.
“Unacceptable attack”
On Friday, Stockholm announced the repatriation of staff from its embassy in Iraq for security reasons. The day before, the head of Swedish diplomacy Tobias Billström had denounced an “unacceptable attack” and affirmed that the Iraqi authorities had “failed in (their) obligation” to protect the Swedish diplomatic mission. Referring to the desecration of the Koran, Billström also castigated an “offensive and disrespectful act”.
On Saturday, a new demonstration took place overnight in Baghdad following reports of another desecration of the Koran in Denmark. On Facebook, the far-right Danske Patrioter movement posted a video of a man apparently burning a Koran and stomping on an Iraqi flag.
The Danish Foreign Ministry condemned the “burning of the Koran”, a “shameful act” and “provocative, which hurts many people”.
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