The burning of a Quran exterior a mosque in Sweden on one of many holiest days in Islam sparked outrage Thursday in lots of Muslim international locations and widespread condemnations of the Swedish authorities.
In Iraq, a number of hundred folks protested exterior the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad on the urging of Muqtada al-Sadr, a populist cleric who referred to as on the Iraqi authorities to interrupt off diplomatic relations with Sweden, which he referred to as “hostile” to Islam.
The crowd turned more and more offended, scaling the wall surrounding the compound and pushing by an exterior gate. There was no signal that Iraqi diplomatic police forces tried to cease them. The protesters didn’t enter the embassy itself, which was closed for the Islamic vacation, and ultimately left. Mr. Sadr referred to as for bigger protests after prayers on Friday.
Iraq’s overseas ministry additionally condemned Sweden “for allowing an extremist to burn a copy of the holy Quran.”
In the incident in Stockholm on Wednesday, two males, watched by a crowd of individuals, tore pages out of a Quran and burned them exterior a mosque.
In an software for the allow, one of many males, Salwan Momika, recognized by Swedish media as an Iraqi immigrant dwelling in Sweden, mentioned he wished to precise his opinion concerning the Quran by tearing it up and burning it. The police had granted a allow for the demonstration after a Swedish court docket dominated that banning it will impinge on the fitting to freedom of speech.
However, the allow says that demonstrators will not be allowed to burn objects in Stockholm.
The timing of the burning of Islam’s holy ebook, in the course of the essential Muslim vacation of Eid al-Adha, additional angered and pained Muslims in lots of international locations, who had been celebrating the vacation, which honors the top of the hajj pilgrimage.
Morocco summoned Sweden’s consultant in Rabat to ask him to sentence the act and recalled its personal ambassador in Sweden in line with the Moroccan state news company. Jordan additionally mentioned it had expressed its displeasure to Sweden’s ambassador, in line with the state news company, calling it “a racist act of serious hate.”
Egypt referred to as the burning of the Quran “a disgraceful act” and Saudi Arabia mentioned that such “hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification.” Malaysia’s overseas minister mentioned the desecration of a holy ebook whereas Muslims celebrated such an essential vacation was “offensive to Muslims worldwide.”
And President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey mentioned in an handle Thursday that the nation would by no means bow to “the politics of provocation,” in a reference to the incident in Sweden, in line with the Anadolu state news company. Insulting issues that had been sacred to Muslims, he mentioned, was “not freedom of thought.”
His condemnation got here as diplomatic ties are already strained between Turkey and Sweden, with the Turkish authorities holding up a Swedish bid to hitch NATO. Turkey desires Sweden to take a harder line on pro-Kurdish activists and members of an outlawed spiritual group whom it considers terrorists dwelling in Sweden.
The burning of the Quran in Stockholm on Wednesday adopted an analogous incident in January during which a far-right Danish-Swedish determine burned a replica of the holy ebook exterior the Turkish Embassy within the Swedish capital, which additionally exacerbated tensions with Turkey.
Since then, the police in Stockholm mentioned they’d rejected two different requests to protest by burning Qurans and that Sweden’s safety equipment had expressed worries that such acts would increase safety issues and pose a risk to embassies overseas.
A Swedish court docket in April overturned the police’s determination, saying that the police didn’t have enough proof to ban the protests. Sweden has lengthy grappled over whether or not to permit such demonstrations, with the implications they’ve free of charge speech and non secular tolerance.
The Stockholm police mentioned they had been investigating Mr. Momika for violating the burning ban and for incitement towards a gaggle of individuals.
The Quran burning in Stockholm was notably troubling to many Iraqis as a result of it was extensively reported that it was carried out by an Iraqi immigrant, Mr. Momika. Calls to Mr. Momika on Thursday weren’t answered.
Mr. Sadr, the Iraqi cleric, referred to as on the federal government in Iraq to strip Mr. Momika of his citizenship and for Sweden to repatriate him for prosecution. If Sweden didn’t do, he mentioned, he must be tried in absentia in Iraq.
There are greater than 140,000 Iraqi-born immigrants in Sweden, the second largest immigrant group within the nation after Swedish Finns.
Alissa J. Rubin reported from Baghdad and Isabella Kwai from London. Falih Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad, Christina Anderson from Malmo, Sweden, and Elif Ince from Istanbul.
Source: www.nytimes.com