The foreign ministries of several Muslim countries have invited Swedish diplomats for an interview due to the trampling of the Koran on Thursday.
Demonstrations against Sweden continued on Friday in Baghdad, Iraq, and flared up in other Muslim countries as well.
Demonstrators carried Korans and the Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr pictures. Al-Sadr’s supporters had called Thursday’s demonstration, which led to the burning of the Swedish embassy.
Protests against Sweden were also shown at least in Lebanon and Iran. Some of the demonstrators, among other things, burned Swedish flags and demanded boycotts against Sweden.
The events started on Thursday. Protesters burned down the Swedish embassy in Baghdad because the Stockholm police had allowed the burning of the Koran planned for the same day. The Koran was not burned, but the Iraqi man who organized the demonstration, among other things, trampled on the Koran and cleaned his shoes on a picture of the Iraqi flag.
Demonstrators broke into the Swedish embassy in Baghdad for the second time – the last time this happened at the end of June.
On Thursday, Iraq decided to expel Sweden’s ambassador to Iraq from Baghdad, and Sweden moved the embassy’s operations to Stockholm. Iraq also recalled the chargé d’affaires of its Stockholm embassy back to Iraq.
Swedish diplomats for interview
At least the foreign ministries of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran have invited Swedish diplomats for interview because of Thursday’s Koran Rapture.
– [Saudi-Arabia tuomitsee] The repeated and irresponsible actions of the Swedish authorities to accept official permits for extremists to burn and desecrate the Holy Koran. This is a systematic provoking of the feelings of millions of Muslims in the world, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes in its letter of complaint.
The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation also condemned the incident and said it could not be justified on the basis of freedom of expression.
Leader of Hezbollah, an influential extremist movement in Lebanon Hassan Nasrallah called to expel Swedish ambassadors from Muslim countries and even cut off diplomatic relations with Sweden if Korans are still destroyed.
Iraq said on Thursday it would stop all business with Swedish companies operating in the country. On Friday, Iraqi state media first reported that Iraq had revoked the work permits of employees of the communications technology company Ercsson in Iraq. Later, an adviser to the Iraqi prime minister said that this had not been done.
In Cairo, the capital of Egypt, the influential al-Azhar University again calls for a boycott of all Swedish products due to the desecration of the Koran. The matter is explained in the university’s bulletin. Al-Azhar University is the highest educational institution for Sunni Muslims.
An arrest warrant from Turkey for a Swedish politician
Turkey has also condemned the trampling of the Koran and again demanded that Sweden act to prevent expressions of opinion against the Koran.
On Friday, Turkey gave arrest warrant Danish-Swedish far-right politician Rasmus from Paludanwho has burned several Korans.
The basis for Paludan’s arrest warrant is the burning of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in January. After the incident, an investigation into Paludan’s activities was started in Turkey. He is accused of publicly insulting religious values.
Source: Reuters