Swedish government finally condemns ‘Islamophobic’ Quran burning

“Manifestations of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place either in Sweden or in Europe”

The Swedish government did condemn the “Islamophobic” burning of the Koran. An Iraqi citizen living in Stockholm named Salvan Momika also trampled on the holy book while standing next to the mosque. The sacrilege was carried out with the permission of the authorities.

The Swedish government condemned last week’s burning of the Quran near Stockholm’s main mosque as an “Islamophobic” act, according to The Guardian, citing Agence France-Presse, after an international Islamic organization urged the authorities in the Scandinavian kingdom to take measures to avoid burning the sacred books in the future.

“The Swedish government fully understands that Islamophobic acts committed by individuals in demonstrations in Sweden can be offensive to Muslims,” the kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “We strongly condemn these actions, which in no way reflect the views of the Swedish government,” the statement continued.

The condemnation from official Stockholm, Agence France-Presse notes, came in response to a call from the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take collective action to avoid burning the Koran in the future.

The 57-member organization gathered at its headquarters in Jeddah to respond to an incident last Wednesday in which 37-year-old Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, stepped on Islam’s holy book and set fire to several pages.

The OIC called on member states to “take unified and collective measures to prevent the recurrence of cases of desecration of copies of the Koran,” according to a statement released after an extraordinary meeting of the organization.

“Burning the Quran or any other sacred text is an offensive and disrespectful act and a clear provocation. Manifestations of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place either in Sweden or in Europe,” the Swedish Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Office added that Sweden has “a constitutionally protected right to freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration.”

A number of Arab countries, including Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, have summoned Swedish ambassadors to protest the Koran-burning incident.

The Swedish police issued Momika a permit under the protection of freedom of speech, but authorities later said they had launched an investigation into “campaigning against an ethnic group”, noting that Momika had burned pages from Islam’s holy book very close to a mosque.