Leader demands maximum punishment for Qur’an desecrator
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Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called a recent desecration of the Muslims’ holy book in Sweden as a bitter, conspiratorial and dangerous incident, calling for the maximum punishment for the perpetrator.
Ayatollah Khamenei said in a message on Saturday that there is a consensus among all Islamic scholars that the perpetrator of the crime should face the maximum punishment.
On Thursday, Salwan Momika, a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee, desecrated the Muslim holy book during a demonstration outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm amid strict protection provided by the Swedish police.
This was the second time Momika was disrespecting the holy book amid the approval of Sweden’s authorities. He set a copy of the Qur’an on fire on June 28.
Also, members of an Islamophobic group called Danske Patrioter burned the Muslim holy book in front of Iraq’s Embassy in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen on Friday.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the Swedish government should hand over the perpetrator to the judicial systems of Islamic countries.
“The Swedish government should also know that by supporting a criminal, it has taken a battle formation against the Islamic world and attracted the hatred and enmity of Muslim nations and many of their governments,” he said.
The sacrilegious move prompted protests across the Muslim world. People in many countries staged massive rallies to condemn the blasphemous act.
On Thursday, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish Embassy and set part of it on fire to show their anger at the sacrilegious act.
Iranians also took to the streets across the country after Friday prayers to voice their strong condemnation of the recent desecration of the Holy Qur’an.
People in Lebanon and Pakistan staged similar rallies on Friday.
The Iraqi government has ordered the Swedish ambassador to leave the Arab country and decided to withdraw its envoy from Stockholm.
Sweden’s envoys summoned
On Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to Tehran and conveyed Iran’s strong condemnation of the sacrilegious act.
The Danish ambassador was also summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Denmark must prevent the desecration of the Qur’an and other Muslim sanctities and prosecute those who commit such acts.
Iran has said it will not accept a new Swedish ambassador until Stockholm takes a serious and effective measure to deal with the continuous violation of Islamic sanctities.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in a phone call with the group’s Secretary General Hissein Ibrahim Taha.
The UAE Foreign Ministry also called in Sweden’s chargé d’affaires in Abu Dhabi and conveyed its strong objection to the sacrilegious move.
“Sweden has disregarded its international responsibilities and demonstrated a lack of respect for social values in this regard,” the Emirati Foreign Ministry said.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the countries’ governments must fulfill their responsibilities to deal with such crimes, prevent their repetition, and punish the perpetrators.
“Egypt’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemns the action of the Swedish authorities in granting permission to an extremist person to repeat the insult to the Holy Qur’an,” the statement added. The Kingdom of Jordan condemned the desecration “as a reckless act that fuels hatred, and a manifestation of Islamophobia that incites violence and insult to religions”.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Swedish authorities should take “all the necessary measures to stop these shameful acts”.
Saudi Arabia summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Riyadh and handed him a note of protest.
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, called on Arab and Muslim countries to follow Iraq’s steps and expel Swedish ambassadors from their countries.