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Iran slams Sweden over Quran burning

April 18, 2022 at 12:48 pm

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh in Tehran, on 11 April 2022 [ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images]

Iran’s foreign ministry yesterday called on the Swedish government to take action over a recent burning of the Muslim Holy Quran in Sweden.

“Iran strongly condemns the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in the Swedish city of Linköping by a Danish racist extremist element which was done under the protection of the Swedish police under the pretext of freedom of speech,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told Iran News Agency (IRNA).

Khatibzadeh urged Stockholm to take “immediate, severe, and explicit action against the perpetrator, as well as practical measures to prevent such incidents.” He also denounced what he described as the “intentional repetition of anti-Islam blasphemous acts in the holy month of Ramadan that hurt the sensitivities of Muslims both in Sweden and across the world.”

“Blasphemy is an evident example of hatred in contrast with freedom of speech and should be condemned by all those who believe in coexistence and dialogue between faiths,” the official stressed.

He said that the offense required the “unity of Muslims and Islamic countries against the plots of the enemies of Islam.”

On Thursday, leader of the Danish Hard Line Party, Rasmus Paludan, burned a copy of the Holy Quran in Linköping under police protection. The act led to riots in several parts of Sweden.

READ: Iraq summons Swedish envoy over Quran burning