UAE summons Swedish charge d'affaires over Quran burnings

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said Friday that it summoned the Swedish charge d'affaires in Abu Dhabi to protest recent decisions permitting burnings of the Muslim holy book in the Nordic country.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Charge D’Affaires at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden to the UAE, and handed her an official note of protest against the repeated attacks and abuses on copies of the Holy Quran committed by extremists in the Kingdom of Sweden," the Foreign Ministry of UAE said in a statement on Friday.

The UAE expressed its strong condemnation of the Swedish government's decision to allow such acts to continue, highlighting that it reflects a "disregard for international responsibilities and a lack of respect for social values."

It also stressed the importance of "monitoring and addressing hate speech and expressions of racism that negatively impact peace and security."

The Ministry furthermore expressed its rejection of the use of freedom of expression as justification for such heinous acts," it said.

Early Thursday morning, a crowd of Iraqis stormed Sweden's Embassy in Baghdad and set it ablaze in protest against the June 28 burning of a copy of the Quran last month by Salwan Momika, an Iraq-born man who now lives in Sweden.

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

Following the storming of Stockholm's diplomatic mission, Momika again desecrated a copy of the Quran, stepping on it and the Iraqi flag in front of Iraq's embassy in Sweden.