Iran summons Sweden ambassador over 2nd incident of state-authorized Qur'an desecration

Iran has summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Tehran over a second incident of state-authorized desecration of the Holy Qur’an in the Swedish capital, conveying the Islamic Republic’s vehement protest against the heinous act of blasphemy.

The Swedish envoy was summoned by Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani on Thursday.

Just hours earlier, Salwan Momik, a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee, had stomped on a copy of the Qur’an and kicked the Muslim holy book during a demonstration outside Stockholm’s main mosque amid strict protection provided for the rally by the Swedish police.

“We strongly condemn the repeated desecration of the Nobel Qur’an and Islamic sanctities in Sweden, and consider the Swedish government to be fully responsible for the fallout from provocation of the sentiments of the world’s Muslims,” Kan’ani told the Swedish diplomat.

The act of sacrilege has opened the floodgates of protest across the world’s Muslim community.

Hours before the planned desecration, hundreds of Iraqi protesters amassed outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, scaling its walls and setting fire to parts of it.

Baghdad expelled Sweden’s envoy and withdrew its ambassador from Stockholm.

This was the second time Momik was disrespecting the Qur’an amid the approval of Sweden’s authorities. He had set a copy of the holy book on fire last month too, prompting similar raging protests across the Muslim world and causing the Iranian Foreign Ministry to summon Sweden’s chargé d’affaires.

“Continuation of disrespect against the Islamic sanctities and hatemongering in this way serves as a complete example of organized violence and is considered to be a hostile measure against the world’s two-billion-strong Muslim population, God-fearing people, and followers of divine religions,” Kan’ani told the Swedish envoy.

The spokesman further asked how come Sweden, which lays claim to respecting human and civil rights, had come to brook such an act of profanity against the rights of the world’s Muslim population, around one million among whom reside in Sweden.

The Iranian official reminded the envoy that the United Nations Human Rights Council had recently passed a resolution condemning the desecration of the Holy Qur’an, denouncing Sweden’s disregard for international ratifications that had witnessed Stockholm allowing repetition of the act of sacrilege.

Lashing out at the Swedish government for its efforts to try and justify such profanity under the banner of “freedom of speech,” Kan’ani said freedom of speech should not feature “violation of the dignity and religious sanctities” of other people.

The Swedish ambassador, for his part, said he would promptly notify his respective government about the Islamic Republic’s protest.

Also on Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian delivered a similarly strong condemnation of the repeated act of sacrilege, blasting the Swedish government over its “irresponsible act of accommodating this despicable measure.”

“There is no room for insulting divine ideas and scriptures across divine religions,” the top diplomat added.

Iran, alongside other Muslim countries, is prepared for taking “coordinated deterrent actions” against such instances of profanity, he concluded.