Hamas slams burning of Quran by Swedish extremist

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement condemned the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in front of a mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Wednesday.

"The burning of the holy Quran in Sweden on the first day of Eid Al-Adha is a provocation to the feelings of Muslims around the world and an aggression on their beliefs," Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas figure, said on Twitter.

The extremist's provocative act was deliberately planned to coincide with the celebration by Muslims around the world of Eid al-Adha, one of the major Islamic religious festivals.

Abu Zuhri called for a halt to such "hostile actions."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the "crime of burning a copy of the holy Quran and its desecration by an extremist in Stockholm."

Jordan also condemned the Swedish extremist’s act and considered it an "incitement and racism."

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry in a statement said the act of burning the Quran cannot be a form of freedom of expression, underscoring the need to stop such "irresponsible behavior and actions."

The incident also drew strong condemnation from Türkiye.

“I condemn the vile action in Sweden against our Holy Book, the Quran, on the first day of Eid-al-Adha!” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Twitter.

Early on Wednesday, a person identified as Salwan Momika burned a copy of the Quran under police protection in front of Stockholm Mosque.

On June 12, a Swedish appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to overturn a ban on Quran burning, ruling that police had no legal grounds to prevent two Quran burning protests earlier this year.