Iran Says It Holds Sweden Accountable For Quran Desecration

Condemning the desecration, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic is waiting for Stockholm's immediate, strong and clear reaction against the perpetrators of the insulting act and practical measures to prevent such moves.

Leader of the right-wing extremist party, Rasmus Paludan, went to an open public space in southern Linkoping -- a heavily Muslim-populated neighborhood on Thursday, put the Quran down on the ground and burned it while ignoring protests from onlookers.

The intentional repetition of the anti-Islam blasphemous act in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan has hurt the feeling of Muslims both in Sweden and across the world, Khatibzadeh said.

The Foreign Ministry also summoned the chargé d'affaires of Sweden to convey the Islamic Republic’s protest at the desecration.

Malaysia and Indonesia along with the Swedish Islamic Center and many other groups and organizations also strongly condemned the provocative action.

Iraqi Shia cleric and the leader of Sadr Movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called on the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Saturday to summon the Swedish ambassador

Since Thursday, a number of cities across Sweden, such as the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby as well as in the cities of Linkoping and Norrkoping, were scenes of violent clashes with social media videos showing young men smashing windows of police cars and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

Paludan is a Danish lawyer who also holds Swedish citizenship and set up Stram Kurs in 2017 with an anti-immigration and anti-Islam agenda. He once burned the Quran in 2019 and also wrapped the book in bacon and tossed it in the air. In 2020, Paludan was banned from entering Sweden for two years and was also prevented from entering Germany for some time after he announced plans to hold a similar demonstration in Berlin.