Saudi Arabia summons Swedish ambassador over Qur’an desecration

Saudi Arabia has summoned Sweden’s ambassador to Riyadh in protest at the desecration of the Holy Qur’an in the European country, which sparked widespread criticism across the Islamic world.

The Swedish diplomat was summoned by the foreign ministry on Sunday after an Iraqi immigrant publicly burned a copy of the Qur’an outside a Stockholm mosque last week, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Riyadh urged Stockholm to “stop all actions that directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation, and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states,” the agency said.

Saudi Arabia has already denounced the blasphemous move.

‘Offensive, disrespectful’: EU strongly condemns desecration of Holy Qur’an in Sweden

The European Union has strongly denounced the recent Qur

On Wednesday, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi immigrant stomped on the Qur’an before setting several pages alight in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque. The insult to the Muslim holy book was made under the authorization and protection of the Swedish police.

The incident, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, drew the anger of Muslims from across the world.

Following the incident, several thousand Iraqis gathered near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in protest against the Qur’an burning and demanded the expulsion of the ambassador.

People in other Muslim countries also took to the streets in protest against the move. In Iran, people held a demonstration outside Sweden’s embassy in Tehran on Friday.

OIC calls for collective measures to prevent future desecration of Qur'an

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called for collective measures to prevent future incidents of Qur

Iran, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and a number of other countries have also voiced diplomatic protest against the Swedish government’s authorization of the Qur’an desecration.

Iran has also halted “administrative phases” to dispatch an ambassador to Sweden over the state-sanctioned, anti-Islam action.

On Sunday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called for collective measures to prevent future incidents of Qur’an desecration after convening an emergency meeting of its executive committee in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea city of Jeddah to address the consequences of the sacrilegious act.

Following the call, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry condemned the burning of Islam’s holy book outside Stockholm’s main mosque, calling it an “Islamophobic” act.

“The Swedish Government fully understands that the Islamophobic acts committed by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden can be offensive to Muslims,” the ministry said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn these acts, which in no way reflect the views of the Swedish government,” it added.

Sweden has repeatedly permitted Qur’an burnings in recent years. In January, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk