Protesting the Burning of the Quran

Our Embassy staff are in safety and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is in regular contact with them,” the Swedish foreign ministry’s press office said.

Al Sadr demanded authorities withdraw the Iraqi nationality of Salwan Momika – the organizer of the one-man Quran protest in Stockholm – who left Iraq for Sweden five years ago.

“If freedom of speech is guaranteed to Iraq and the world, then the believers have to express their views on the burning of the holy books…through massive angry protests against the Swedish embassy in Iraq,” Al Sadr said.

sian ethnic groups are disproportionately affected by executions in Iran, it said 20 percent of all executions were of members of the Sunni Baluch minority.

206 people were executed for drug-related charges, a 126 percent rise compared to the same period last year. Six women were among those executed in the period, while two men were publicly hanged.

Last week, on Wednesday, a man burned a copy of the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden. The burning took place on Eid al-Adha, a holy day in the Muslim calendar. On Thursday, protesters in Baghdad, Iraq, breached the perimeter of the Swedish embassy there and called for the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad.

The protest lasted only 15 minutes before the protesters withdrew. They had been incited by the powerful Iraqi Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.

Sweden said its staff were safe. “We are well informed about the situation.

Muslim countries and Islamic organizations had condemned the burning of the Quran in Stockholm. Iran called the act “provocative,” and Kuwait said it’s a “dangerous provocatory step”.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council all separately expressed strong condemnation to the event.

On Wednesday, Morocco recalled its ambassador to Sweden and both Iraq and Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the act. On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Abu Dhabi to protest the Quran burning incident.