Iran says it won’t send new envoy to Sweden over Quran desecration

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - Iran says it will not be sending its newly appointed ambassador to Sweden, after the term of the previous envoy ended, over the desecration of Muslims' holy book of Quran by a far-right extremist in Stockholm.

In a Twitter post on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the “process of sending the new ambassador” to Sweden has been halted “due to the action of the (Swedish) government in issuing a permit to desecrate the Holy Quran.”

The foreign minister further said he held discussions with the newly appointed ambassador to Sweden, Hojatollah Foghani, and that the envoy also presented a report about his diplomatic mandate.

The announcement came after Iran’s state news agency IRNA cited an informed source in the Foreign Ministry as saying that Tehran does not intend to send a new envoy to the Scandinavian country.

“Although the administrative procedures have been completed to send the new ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Sweden, the Foreign Ministry has presently no plans to send the new envoy to this country due to the insult to the Holy Qur’an there,” the source was quoted as saying.

During a demonstration allowed by the Swedish law enforcement authorities on Thursday, coinciding with Muslims' holy festival of Eid al-Adha, a 37-year-old man of Iraqi origin, Salwan Momika, was seen tearing up and setting ablaze pages of the Quran.

The incident took place outside the Stockholm Central Mosque and drew widespread condemnation from across the world, including from Iranian authorities.

Amir-Abdollahian in an earlier statement on Thursday said the entire Islamic world "strongly condemns the insult to the holy books and the Holy Quran” in the Swedish capital.

Rebuking the Swedish authorities, the top diplomat said allowing the desecration of holy sanctities and the Quran "without any justification" is "not acceptable" and such acts in the name of freedom of speech only "encourage terrorism and extremism."

After the incident, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires in the capital Tehran to lodge a protest against the sacrilegious act, the ministry said.

“While Muslims are performing the Haj, ... insulting their sanctities merely serves the path of spreading hatred and violence, exploiting the principle of freedom of expression,” the ministry told the envoy.

It further said Stockholm's silence has emboldened those who do not adhere to the principle of respect for religious and divine values.

It is not the first instance of Swedish authorities allowing the desecration of the Quran. In January, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Danish far-right party Stram Kure burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm during a protest allowed by local police.

Iran then called the incident an attempt to stoke hatred and violence against Muslims and accused some European countries of allowing extremists to spread hatred against Islamic sanctities and values "under the false pretext of advocating freedom of speech."