Iraq has applied to the Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) with a proposal to hold an emergency meeting in Baghdad to discuss the act of publicly burning the holy book of Muslims in the Swedish capital, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Sahhaf said on Monday.
"Iraq has sent an official memorandum to the OIC secretariat indicating the Iraqi government's desire to hold a high-level emergency meeting [of the organization] in Baghdad to discuss the desecration and burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Sweden," Al-Sahhaf said, as quoted by the INA news agency.
The scandalous action took place with the permission of the police on Medborgarplatsen Square in central Stockholm on June 28. Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old immigrant from Iraq, tore pages from the Quran and set it on fire. On this day, Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha (Kurban Bayram in Turkic peoples), one of the main religious holidays. In addition, more than 1.8 million Muslims completed the hajj, a pilgrimage to the holy places of Islam in the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, on June 28.
June 29, Swedish Ambassador to Baghdad Jessica Svardström was summoned to the foreign ministry of Iraq, where she was sent a "strong protest" in connection with the incident. The ministry stressed that no "legal justification and freedom of speech considerations justify the insult of religious sanctities." On the same day, Al-Sahhaf stated that Baghdad demanded that the Swedish government extradite Momik, who is an Iraqi citizen, so that "he could be tried" on Iraqi territory in accordance with local law.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: MohammadHuzam/Creative Commons 4.0
Based on materials from TASS