RIYADH
\nMiddle East powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran have summoned Swedish diplomats to denounce Stockholm\u2019s permission for protests that desecrate the Holy Quran on free speech grounds.
\nThe separate moves by both majority-Muslim countries, announced in statements late on Thursday, came amid heightened tensions between Sweden and Iraq over a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee who last month desecrated the Holy Quran outside Stockholm\u2019s main mosque.
\nIn the latest such incident on Thursday, the refugee, Salwan Momika, stepped on the Holy Quran but did not burn it, triggering renewed condemnations and calls for protest across the Muslim world.
\nSaudi Arabia, home to Islam\u2019s holiest sites, said it would hand the Swedish charge d\u2019affaires \u201ca protest note that includes the kingdom\u2019s request to the Swedish authorities to take all immediate and necessary measures to stop these disgraceful acts\u201d, according to a foreign ministry statement.
\nIranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Sweden\u2019s ambassador to Tehran had been called in to censure the permit granted to Momika\u2019s protest and to warn Stockholm of the consequences of such actions.
\n\u201cWe strongly condemn the repeated desecration of the Holy Quran and Islamic sanctities in Sweden and hold the Swedish government fully responsible for the consequences of inciting the feelings of Muslims around the world,\u201d Kanani said.
\nNews that Swedish authorities would permit the latest demonstration to go ahead had led hundreds of Iraqis to storm and torch Sweden\u2019s Baghdad Embassy in a chaotic pre-dawn attack.
\nIraq\u2019s government condemned the attack. It also retaliated against the protest in Sweden by expelling its ambassador, vowing to sever ties and suspending the operating licence of Swedish telecom giant Ericsson.
\nMeanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a joint strategy will be formulated from the platform of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to counter such heinous acts, Radio Pakistan reported.
\nStrongly condemning the desecration, the premier said a campaign will be initiated to get reversed the decision of allowing the desecration of Holy books \u2014 the Holy Quran, Bible and Torah \u2014 the report said.
\nIt quoted Shehbaz saying: \u201cThe desecration of sacred books, persons and rituals is not freedom of expression but [is done] to constantly torment the world.\u201d
\nTerming it a part of a political and satanic agenda, PM Shehbaz said that the entire Muslim and Christian communities \u201cmust stop this conspiracy together\u201d, said in Radio Pakistan\u2019s reported.
\nIt further quoted the prime minister as saying that the \u201cdecision to allow the desecration of the Torah and Bible encouraged desecrators\u201d and promoted hatred, which was against international law.
\nThe premier termed such incidents as \u201cfatal to world peace\u201d as well as \u201cabhorrent and condemnable, both legally and morally\u201d.
\nOn Thursday, the 57-member OIC denounced the Stockholm protest as \u201canother provocative attack\u201d that could not be justified under the right to freedom of expression.
\nTurkey\u2019s foreign ministry called on Sweden to take \u201cdissuasive measures to prevent hate crimes against Islam and its billions of followers\u201d.
\nIn Lebanon, the leader of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement Hassan Nasrallah called for expulsion of the Swedish envoy there and the recall of Lebanon\u2019s ambassador to Sweden.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the minimum required,\u201d he said.
\nIranian authorities have called for nationwide demonstrations to be held after Friday prayers to denounce the \u201cdesecration of the Holy Quran,\u201d according to the state broadcaster.
\nTehran\u2019s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked him \u201cto immediately condemn this action and take the necessary measures as soon as possible in order to prevent the recurrence of such insulting and provocative action,\u201d the foreign ministry said.
\nSpokesman Kanani condemned \u201cany insult to religious sanctities and holy books anywhere and by anyone\u201d, arguing \u201cfreedom of speech used to attack dignity, morals and religious sanctities\u2026 has no value.\u201d
\nThe governments of several Muslim countries, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco issued protests about the incident, with Iraq seeking the man\u2019s extradition to face trial in the country.
\nThe United States also condemned it, but added that Sweden\u2019s issuing of the permit supported freedom of expression and was not an endorsement of the action.
\nSimilarly, Pakistan had also strongly condemned the \u201cdespicable act\u201d of the desecration of the Holy Quran.
\nThe Foreign Office had stated that such intentional incitement to discrimination, hatred, and violence cannot be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression and protest.
\n\u201cUnder international law, states are duty-bound to prohibit any advocacy of religious hatred, leading to the incitement of violence,\u201d it stated.
\nThe FO had urged the international community and the national governments to undertake \u201ccredible and concrete measures to prevent the rising incidents of xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred\u201d.
\nAs protests continued in subsequent days, Swedish police approved a permit for a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, which involved burning holy texts outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, sparking condemnation from Israel and Jewish organisations.
\nInitially, the demonstration was planned to involve burning the Torah and the Bible as a response to the Holy Quran burning protest. The application submitted to the police described it as an expression in support of freedom of speech.
\nHowever, a day later, the organiser of the protest announced that he would not proceed with it.
\nHe had explained that his intention was in fact to denounce those who burn sacred books such as the Holy Quran in the Nordic country.
\n\u201cThis is a response to the people who burn the [Holy] Quran. I want to show that freedom of expression has limits that must be taken into account,\u201d the Swedish resident of Syrian origin had said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIYADH Middle East powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran have summoned Swedish diplomats to denounce Stockholm\u2019s permission for protests that desecrate the Holy Quran on free speech grounds. The separate moves by both majority-Muslim countries, announced in statements late on Thursday, came amid heightened tensions between Sweden and Iraq over a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee who last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-344598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n