The Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital was set on fire this Thursday, July 20, amid protests against the burning of the Koran, which took place in Stockholm in recent months. In the midst of these events a diplomatic crisis broke out. Baghdad withdrew its ambassador from the Swedish capital after the European country authorized a new demonstration in which another copy of the holy book of Islam is expected to be incinerated.
At a time when an Iraqi militant taking refuge in Sweden planned to burn another copy of the Koran, as well as the flag of that Asian country, the Swedish embassy was cremated in Baghdad on Thursday, July 20.
During a demonstration, organized by supporters of controversial Shiite religious leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, columns of smoke were seen coming out of the Swedish embassy building in the Iraqi capital.
Civil defense trucks put out the fire, while security forces dispersed the protesters with water cannons and electric batons. The activists responded by throwing stones and then calm returned to the city.
The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the staff of its diplomatic headquarters in Baghdad are out of danger.
“We are aware of the situation. Our embassy staff are safe and the ministry is in regular contact with them,” the ministry said in an email.
The incident took place the same day that the militant Iraqi refugee in Sweden, Salwan Momika, planned to burn a copy of the Koran, in front of the embassy of his country in Stockholm.
The Iraqi demonstrators strongly criticized Momika’s intention and justified that they set fire to the Swedish embassy in protest.
“We didn’t wait for dawn, we stormed in at dawn and set fire to the Swedish embassy,” a young protester told AFP, explaining that he acted after Salwan Momika was again given permission “to demonstrate and burn the Koran.”
The Swedish authorities had authorized this small gathering, despite the fact that the militant had confirmed on his Facebook page that he would burn the religious book.
Finally, the protesters gathered in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm and stepped on the book, although they did not burn it, according to local media.
Criticism of Iraq
Sweden condemned the act and announced that it had summoned the Iraqi charge d’affaires after the incident.
“What has happened is totally unacceptable and the government condemns these attacks in the strongest possible terms,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said.
“The Iraqi authorities have an unequivocal obligation to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic personnel under the Vienna Convention. It is clear that the Iraqi authorities have seriously failed in this responsibility (…) The government will summon the top Iraqi diplomat in Sweden today,” Billström added.
The United States also condemned the attack on the Swedish embassy and criticized Iraqi security forces for failing to prevent the act.
“Freedom of peaceful assembly is an essential hallmark of democracy, but what happened last night was an unlawful act of violence… It is unacceptable that Iraqi security forces did not act to prevent protesters from breaking into the Swedish embassy compound a second time and damaging it,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Iraq condemns the attack, but withdraws the Swedish ambassador
The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning “in the strongest terms” the burning of the embassy.
“The Iraqi government has instructed the competent security services to carry out an urgent investigation and take all necessary measures to discover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators, in order to hold them accountable in accordance with the law,” he said.
However, Baghdad decided to withdraw its charge d’affaires from Sweden, as well as the ambassador of the Nordic country in Baghdad.
“Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al Sudani ordered the Foreign Ministry to remove the Iraqi Chargé d’Affaires from the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in the Swedish capital, Stockholm,” said a statement from government spokesman Basem al Awadi.
“He also addressed a request to the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory, in response to the Swedish government’s repeated authorization to burn the noble Qur’an, insult Islamic sanctities and burn the Iraqi flag,” it added.
Baghdad had warned on Thursday that it would break diplomatic relations with Stockholm if such acts against the Koran continue.
According to Iraq, the “granting of authorizations under the pretext of freedom of expression” represents “provocative actions that offend international pacts and norms of respect for religions, beliefs”, and that “constitute a threat to peace and incite a culture of violence and hatred”.
Muqtada al Sadr, an influential Iraqi Shiite cleric, who has hundreds of thousands of supporters, reacted in recent hours and called on Muslims to show their “support for heaven” if new copies of the Koran are burned in Sweden.
He also warned the Iraqi government “do not be content with condemnation and denunciation, because that indicates weakness and submission, if the Iraqi flag is really burned.”
International condemnations against the Momika demonstration
It is not the first time that Salwan Momika decides to burn copies of the holy book of Islam. He had already cremated some pages of the Koran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque last month, during Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday. The incident had triggered an assault on the Swedish embassy in Baghdad by supporters of Muqtada al Sadr.
Momika’s act in June had provoked international condemnation, especially from Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan, and from the UN, which adopted a resolution on July 11 condemning the events.
The text condemns “all advocacy and manifestations of religious hatred, including recent public and premeditated acts that have desecrated the Koran.”
The resolution was adopted by 28 of the 47 members of the UN Security Council, including most African countries, plus China and Ukraine. Among the nations that abstained are France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, which claimed that the text goes against freedom of expression.
At the beginning of this year, the Swedish Police decided to veto demonstrations in which copies of the Koran were burned, after warning of threats to security, but the Supreme Court annulled these prohibitions on the grounds that they violated the freedom of demonstration.
With AFP, EFE, Reuters and local media
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