Iran calls for the expulsion of Swedish ambassadors from Arab countries over the burning of the Koran

2023-07-21 13:45:00

Iraqi Protestant holds up a copy of the Koran at a demonstration in Baghdad AHMED JALIL | EFE

Tensions between Iraq and Sweden threaten to break relations between the two nations

21 jul 2023 . Updated at 1:45 p.m.

The leader of the Chi Lebanese party-militia Hezbol, Hasn Nasral, has called on Thursday for all Arab and Islamic countries to follow the example of Iraq and expel the swedish ambassadors of their territories for the new authorization to burn a copy of the Koran in Stockholm. Nasral has described the Iraqi decision as brave, wise and excellent.

The call for the third authorized burning of the Corn in a few months has placed Sweden on the verge of breaking with Iraq between violent protests in Baghdad and the expulsion of the Nordic ambassador from the Iraqi capital. The controversy has been unleashed less than a day after followers of the Shi cleric Muqtada al Sadr attacked and burned down the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, after which the Stockholm government has accused Iraq of letting the assailants do.

The origin of the conflict

The trigger for Islamic anger over the Nordic country, which is still awaiting Turkey’s ratification for NATO membership, was the call launched by Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee, announcing a public burning of the Koran in Stockholm, as well as the flag of their country of origin. In front of the Iraqi embassy. In June he had carried out a similar action before the great mosque of the Swedish capital.

Already then it raised protests from the Islamic world, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who saw his thesis reinforced that Sweden welcomes as refugees enemies of islam. Momika’s action followed the model set a few months earlier by a well-known Swedish-Danish neo-Nazi agitator, Rasmus Paludan, who has carried out successive Islamophobic acts.

The Swedish Constitution protects these actions under the precept of freedom of expressionso although the government of the conservative Ulf Kristersson has condemned each of these demonstrations, it has argued that You can’t stop this kind of act..

The response to provocations

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Hosein Amirabdolahian, has sent a letter to the United Nations in which he denounces that these acts violate Islamic religious sentiments and they are an abuse of freedom of expression.

Amirabdolahian has urged the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antnio Guterres, to immediately condemn these actions and take the necessary measures as soon as possible not only to prevent a repetition of these events, but also to stop the dangerous consequences that this insulting and provoked phenomenon could entail.

I ask the member states of the United Nations to deal severely with the leaders and perpetrators of this act, read the letter from the representative of Iranian diplomacy, who takes the opportunity to charge the Swedish authorities for allowing marches in which copies of the Koran are burned.

Minister Amirabdolahian has warned that granting permission to this type of demonstration will have irreparable consequences, including the spread of hate, violence and xenophobia in different societies. It is an insult to all Muslims, he added.

Saudi Arabia, a country that houses the most sacred places for more than 1.3 billion Muslims of the planet, expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the repeated and irresponsible granting by the Swedish authorities of official permits that authorize them to burn and desecrate copies of the Holy Qur’an. The country has decided to summon the Swedish charge d’affaires, while Qatar and Iran have done the same with the Swedish ambassador, according to reports from the respective foreign ministries.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), based in the Saudi port city of Jeddah and made up of 57 member states, also expressed its deep disappointment by the repeated permissions of the Swedish authorities, despite the terrible consequences of the vile act of desecration.

For its part, the United Nations Organization has shown its concern both for the burning of the Koran and for the assault on the Swedish Embassy. Following a meeting between the secretary general and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Guterres has expressed his determination to fight against religious hatred and has expressed his solidarity with Muslims.

Filed Under: Sweden Iraq