BAGHDAD
\nAn Iraqi court gave 18 police officers jail sentences of up to three years Tuesday for failing to stop protesters storming and torching Sweden\u2019s embassy in Baghdad, security officials said.
\nSupporters of the powerful Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr set the Swedish embassy in Baghdad alight on the night of July 20, after a Stockholm-based Iraqi refugee desecrated the Qur\u2019an in Stockholm.
\nThe internal security forces court in Baghdad on Tuesday found 18 police officers guilty of failing to carry out their duties by allowing the protesters to attack the embassy, said a copy of the verdict.
\nEight police received three-year jail terms, seven got two years and three months and three others were sentenced to 18 months in prison according to the text authenticated by an interior ministry official who attended the hearing.
\nSome of the police involved in the case were permanently disbarred from the force, according to the verdict. The officers, who included members of the diplomatic protection forces, can appeal the ruling.
\nThe desecration of the Qur\u2019an, which happened repeatedly in Sweden and Denmark this summer, sparked tensions between the Scandinavian countries and Muslim nations in the Middle East.
\nIraq retaliated against Stockholm for permitting protests in which the Qur\u2019an was desecrated by announcing the expulsion of the Sweden\u2019s ambassador.
\nSwedish authorities had allowed the demonstrations on free-speech grounds, but said giving their permission did not signal any approval of the action taken in the protests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BAGHDAD An Iraqi court gave 18 police officers jail sentences of up to three years Tuesday for failing to stop protesters storming and torching Sweden\u2019s embassy in Baghdad, security officials said. Supporters of the powerful Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr set the Swedish embassy in Baghdad alight on the night of July 20, after a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-355779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n