Quran, Iraqi flag desecrated in front of Iraqi Embassy in Sweden

By Atilla Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) – Sweden on Thursday saw yet another act of deliberate desecration of the Muslim holy book, the Quran. Despite protests of the official permission for previous acts of desecration, this provocation also took place under heavy police protection.

Standing in front of the Iraqi Embassy in the capital Stockholm, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi-born man who now lives in Sweden, threw both the Quran and the Iraqi flag on the ground and stepped on them, and then wiped his feet on them.

He took the action after Iraqi protesters on Thursday stormed Sweden’s Embassy in Baghdad in protest of a burning of a copy of the Quran last month – a burning also committed by Momika himself.

The burning took place on June 28, the first day of Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday, and drew widespread denunciation from across the Muslim world.

Thursday’s incident happened after Iraq warned Sweden it could break diplomatic ties if such Quran desecrations happen again.

- Embassy storming condemned

The Swedish Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on its embassy in Baghdad, calling it a "serious violation" of the Vienna Convention.

Many states, including the US, Russia, Türkiye, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan as well as other Islamic countries, decried the attack.

Sweden also launched an investigation into the incident.

In February, Momika sought permission to burn the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm while another person sought permission to burn the Quran in front of Türkiye's Stockholm Embassy.

The police denied them permission for security reasons, but the two took the police decision to court.

The Swedish Administrative Court overturned the police's decision on April 4, arguing that "security risk concerns" were not enough to limit the right to demonstrate.

When the case went to the country’s Supreme Court, on June 12 it upheld the permission for the burning.

- Other burning incidents in Sweden

During the 2022 Easter holidays, far-right Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan continued his provocations of Quran burnings from other Scandinavian cities in Stockholm.

Demonstrators sought to stop him and also attacked the police, injuring over 100 police officers, while 14 demonstrators were injured, and 20 police vehicles were destroyed.

On Jan. 21, Paludan burned a copy of the Quran in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. No one was allowed to come near Paludan during the action, which took place under heavy police protection.