UN to hold urgent meeting on Qu’ran desecration in Sweden
The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an urgent meeting on the desecration of the Muslims’ holy book, Qu’ran, outside a mosque in Sweden, following a request from Pakistan.
The desecration of the Qu’ran took place outside the Swedish capital Stockholm’s main mosque last week, which was authorized by the police and was carried out by an Iraqi man.
The Swedish government condemned the “Islamophobic” act, after the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called for measures to avoid future desecration of the holy book.
Officials from numerous countries, including many in the Middle East, have also condemned the incident, calling on Stockholm to step up measures against religious hate.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “We will teach the arrogant Western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims.” Ankara is currently holding up Sweden’s application for NATO membership on accusations that the Nordic nation harbours people Turkey considers “terrorists”.