Iraq has expelled Sweden’s ambassador shortly after protesters had stormed its embassy in Baghdad and set parts of the building on fire.
Supporters of the influential Iraqi Shia religious and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr had called for the burning of the embassy on Thursday. The demonstrators were angry over what was supposed to be the second burning of a Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm.
While protesters in Sweden kicked and partially damaged a book they said was the Quran, they did not burn it as they had threatened to do.
According to Swedish media reports, the incident was planned by Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee in Sweden who also burned pages of a Quran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on June 28 during the Islamic Eid al-Adha festival.
The incident last month also prompted widespread anger in Iraq and drove supporters of al-Sadr, who positions himself as a populist and whose supporters have previously overrun the Iraqi parliament, to storm Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad.
It promoted several other protests in Muslim-majority countries as governments in Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco decried the incident.
Here is a timeline of the key events that unfolded in the lead-up to Thursday’s desecration and the protests in Iraq:
June 28
- Momika waves two Swedish flags and blasts the country’s national anthem in front of the Stockholm Central Mosque. He then desecrates the Quran repeatedly by tearing it up and lighting it on fire.
- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan criticises the incident, saying it is unacceptable to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression.
- The US Department of State rejects the incident while calling on Turkey to approve Sweden’s NATO membership bid, which it had been blocking.
June 29
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slams Sweden over the incident, saying Ankara will never bow to a policy of provocation or threat. “We will teach the arrogant Western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims,” he said.
- Iraq summons the Swedish ambassador and calls the act “racist” and “irresponsible”. Hundreds of Iraqis storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad after al-Sadr urges people to do so, calling Sweden “hostile to Islam”.
- Morocco recalls its ambassador to Sweden for an indefinite period. The kingdom’s foreign ministry also summons Sweden’s charge d’affaires in Rabat and expresses its “strong condemnation of this attack and its rejection of this unacceptable act”.
- A number of Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the UAE also express their condemnation.
- The US Department of State condemns the burning but adds that issuing the permit for the demonstration supported freedom of expression.
July 2
- The 57-country Organisation of Islamic Cooperation says international law and other collective measures are needed to prevent future incidents involving the desecration of the Quran.
- Sweden’s government condemns the incident, calling it “Islamophobic”.
July 3
- Pope Francis condemns Momika’s actions, saying he feels “angry and disgusted” to see the Muslim holy book desecrated.
July 7
- Muslims in Pakistan, including in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, hold rallies to observe a Quran Sanctity Day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calls for protests.
July 11
- Muslim nations file a motion at the United Nations human rights body, calling on countries to review their laws and plug gaps that may “impede the prevention and prosecution of acts and advocacy of religious hatred”.
July 12
- The UN Human Rights Council approves a resolution on religious hatred and bigotry. But as with all of the council’s resolutions, it is not legally binding.
July 15
- Ahmad Alloush, 32, abandons a plan to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli embassy in Sweden.
A Iraqi refugee burns the quran in Sweden and Iraq expells the Swedish ambassador?! Failed state. I would like to see more solidarity from the other EU countries.
An Iraqi refugee being the burner is quite the buried lede.
Yes, and that’s the cherry on top!
“Seeing a refugee from our country burn our holy book has caused us to look inward and reflect on the harm of absolutist ideologies.”
- Nobody ever, apparently?
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What’s not okay: To expect others to submit to rules of your worldview. Especially if others do not share this view or agree to the rule.
You have the right to believe whatever you like, but don’t expect me to follow. Because I have the same right.
This applies to acts which do not harm anybody or anything, like destroying a copy of a book which you own, without eradicating the book from existence or taking it from others.
Otherwise, we play the victim game. I can do that too! Look, I’m an atheist. This is a very serious thing for me. I feel appalled by the idea that more than 200 years after the enlightenment (just to name one of many reasons), people still believe and share religious ideas. The abrahamic scriptures are riddled with hate speech and endorsements of violence. To call these text collections ‘holy’ is an insult to everything I hold dear, like science and human rights. I’m offended by their mere existence, and perceive public displays as a personal offense to my worldview. I demand everybody in every country to respect my feelings and stop these atrocious acts.
Of course the sane alternative would be to thicken my skin, learn to deal with my emotions (which means I deal with them, not externalizing), respect differences as long as they do no harm.
These book burnings only exist because people make an unjustified fuzz about it, occasionally in a violent way. You can have your religion with all it’s rules, but you cannot expect people to apply who don’t subscribe.
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the idea that the Quran is absolute truth and everyone else is “mistaken”.
Yes, that’s a big problem. They can believe whatever they want in private, but have to accept different believes and practices in public. Specifically including what they perceive as disrespect to what they deem holy, as long as disrespect is all there is. People deserve respect, believes do not.
Getting religious folk to see the “inaccuracies” in their faith is really hard sometimes.
Yes, impossible for the most part. After all, it’s faith, not science. But I think we don’t have to go that far. We don’t have to agree to a worldview, but learn to accept that others can have a different worldview.
That’s also why I think it’s the wrong approach to demand everyone, including non-believers (not sure if that part really matters), to follow the rules of your belief. Implicitly, doing so accepts the “right” of a few to set rules for many. Loud and violent beliefs have an advantage, as they can create so much pressure that it seems like a rational path to peace to succumb to their demands. This is not how I would like things to be.
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- Pope Francis condemns Momika’s actions, saying he feels “angry and disgusted” to see the Muslim holy book desecrated.
isn’t this incredibly ironic…
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Have you heard the famous quote
I disagree with what you are saying, but will with my life defend your right to say it.
That is what lies at the heart of a well functioning democracy. Very few people agree with Quran burning, but we truly and honestly believe that the right to free expression is more important than almost anything else.
Which is why no matter what flags, books, dolls, pictures etc. are desecrated in Iraq, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, you won’t see heavy handed condemnation, expulsion of diplomats etc.
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You are projecting. Most people here understand that the simple concept of free speach is not “likable” or"polite" speach.
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Wrong.
Freedom of speech includes the right to burn a koran.
Oh yes of course, anything for them. What else should rest of the world do to please them?
Nothing, just stop burning Qurans and being dicks about it.
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Maybe they can stop assuming that their shit belief
Extreme display of hate speech and intolerance.
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I’m confused who you think is burning Qurans in this story. The Iraqi refugee is a warmonger?
Yes, he is, along with everyone else defending him or this act.
Isn’t it the violent and insane mob setting fire to an embassy while shouting and waving around some poorly written fairytale book who are the warmongers?
They too.
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That’s racist against islamic people.
Not if their response response for burning an item made of paper is to burn a building with people in it.
First off it would be bigotry if anything. Secondly it isn’t. Third even if it were freedom of expression is a thing.
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That’s whataboutism, the article doesn’t say anything about burning people. It’s the Christians who were burning people during the inquisition times if you want to go there.
A guy burned a book. It sounds to me like pinning one guy’s actions on an entire country would make you a real warmonger.
Whoever pinned the entire situation on sweden alone is wrong too, this is correct. Sadly there are many unhinged individuals who defend cultural genocide of Islam.
We will probably agree that Islamophobia is ignorant and repulsive. I think it’s important to be clear about that - what is not clear to me is whether the politics around this media circus are as straightforward as that. It seems like the religious leaders have an ulterior interest in making a big diplomatic incident about this (not letting a crisis go to waste, in other words).
I think cooler heads would prevail, if the talking heads would let them. It’s not always helpful to rhetorically employ terms like ‘cultural genocide’ either, as it’s a clear overreaction and not within the scope of what is happening here.
We will probably agree that Islamophobia is ignorant and repulsive.
No, we must agree 100%, someone can’t be half-racist or half-homophobic, they can’t be half-islamophobic either. There are no half measures, we must respect all races, cultures, religions and world views.
You should find a psychiatrist if you’re unable to cope with any of the above.
You did not correctly read what I said. Stop. Breathe. Try again.
I respect no religions. So much for “must”.
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hate speech against islam, troll, disrespect towards islamic culture.
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Can you warmongers please stop burning Qurans?
I’ll support it as long as others are willing to wage war over it. This latter attitude is inexcusable, succumbing to it is not the right way.
