Widespread condemnation after Quran burning in Sweden
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Egypt's Al-Azhar Al-Sharif Islamic scientific body calls on all Islamic and Arab peoples to renew the boycott of Swedish products.
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Salwan Momika, 37, who burnt a copy of the Holy Quran outside the Stockholm Central Mosque (AFP)
Iran slammed on Thursday morning the Swedish authorities for granting permission to desecrate the Holy Quran in the Swedish capital.
On Wednesday, a man named Salwan Momika, 37, burned a copy of the Holy Quran outside the Stockholm Central Mosque. He was granted a permit from Swedish authorities prior to carrying out his act.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani considered that the repeated violation of sanctities is a provocative, ill-conceived, and unacceptable measure.
Kanaani pointed out that insulting holy books is a source of aggression and spreading hatred, and contradicts the values ​​of human rights.
Several international bodies similarly denounced burning a copy of the Holy Quran as well as the Swedish authorities' approval of this act.
Lebanese Resistance party Hezbollah considered that the Swedish official authorities were accomplices in the crime of burning a copy of the Quran, as they greenlighted such an act "despite the fact that they previously knew about the perpetrators’ intention."
Hezbollah underlined that the repeated desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden and elsewhere cannot be tolerated, stressing that the Swedish government "must stop this grim downward trajectory."
Egypt expressed its deep concern about the repeated incidents of burning a copy of the Quran and the recent escalation of Islamophobia and blasphemy crimes in some European countries.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, underlining the responsibility of states to prevent such incitement calls.
The ministry affirmed its total rejection of all hateful practices that insult the religious beliefs of Muslims.
On its part, Egypt's Al-Azhar Al-Sharif Islamic scientific body called on all Islamic and Arab peoples to renew the boycott of Swedish products.
In a statement, Al-Azhar indicated that the call to boycott Swedish products comes after repeated unacceptable violations and permanent provocations of the masses of Muslims around the world under the false banner of freedom of opinion and expression.
The statement also called on the governments of Islamic and Arab countries to take serious and unified positions towards those violations that cannot be accepted in any way.
Al-Azhar stressed that the Swedish authorities' decision to allow extremist terrorists to burn and tear a copy of the Quran on the Islamic Eid Al-Adha holiday is an explicit call for hostility, violence, and igniting strife.
On Wednesday, Mandour Mansour, an Al-Azhar scholar, told Al Mayadeen that the burning of the Holy Quran indicates the existence of buried hatred and racism against Islam.
Similarly, the Iraqi government described the burning of the Quran as a "heinous" act that reflects a hateful, aggressive spirit that has nothing to do with freedom of expression, but rather an act of racism and incitement to violence and hatred.
In the same context, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign announced that it summoned Morocco's ambassador to Sweden for consultations, and summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires to express the country's strong condemnation of these repeated provocations.
The green light for this act came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the police's decision to deny permits for protests involving the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran.
Read more: Turkish FM condemns acts of Quran desecration in Sweden
