SAUDI Arabia said yesterday it was summoning a Swedish diplomat to denounce the issuing of permits for protests that desecrate the Quran.

The foreign ministry of the Gulf kingdom, home to the Muslim holy places, said in a statement that it would hand the Swedish charge d’affaires “a protest note that includes the kingdom’s request to the Swedish authorities to take all immediate and necessary measures to stop these disgraceful acts”.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between Sweden and Iraq over a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee who last month burnt pages of a copy of the Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque.

In the latest such incident yesterday, the refugee, Salwan Momika, stepped on a copy of the Quran but did not burn it.

News that Swedish authorities would permit the demonstration to go ahead had led hundreds of Iraqis to storm and torch Sweden’s Baghdad embassy in a chaotic pre-dawn attack.

Iraq’s government condemned the attack, but retaliated against the protest in Sweden by expelling its ambassador, vowing to sever ties and suspending the operating licence of Swedish telecom giant Ericsson.

Saudi Arabia also condemned the June Quran burning and called for Sweden “to stop all actions that directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states”.

That incident occurred during the Eid al-Adha holiday, sparking indignation and diplomatic protests across the Muslim world.

Yesterday, the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation denounced the latest Stockholm protest as “another provocative attack” that could not be justified under the right to freedom of expression. – AFP, July 21, 2023.