Iran Will Not Send New Ambassador To Sweden After Burning Al-Quran

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/ANTARA PHOTO/ARI BOWO SUCIPTO

JAKARTA - Iran will not send newly appointed ambassadors to Sweden after the previous ambassador's tenure ended, in response to an incident of burning the Koran by a far-right extremist in Stockholm.

"The process of sending a new ambassador to Sweden has been stopped due to the government's (Sweden) actions in issuing permits for the blasphemy of the holy Qur'an," Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said via Twitter quoted by ANTARA, Monday, July 3.

Amir-Abdollahian said he had discussed with the new Iranian ambassador to Sweden, Hojatollah Foghani, and the envoy also submitted a report on his diplomatic mandate.

The announcement came after the IRNA news agency quoted a source from Iran's Foreign Ministry as saying Tehran had no intention of sending a new ambassador to the Scandinavian country.

"Although the administrative procedure for sending new ambassadors of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Sweden has been completed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently has no plans to send a new envoy to the country due to insults to the Al-Quran there," the source said as reported by IRNA.

During a demonstration permitted by Swedish law enforcement authorities on Thursday (29/6) to coincide with Eid al-Adha, an Iraqi man who had ties to the Shia militia, Salwan Momika (37), was seen burning the pages of the Koran.

The incident that occurred outside the Stockholm Center Mosque drew widespread criticism from around the world.

Amir-Abdollahian in a previous statement said the entire Islamic world "demonstrates strongly the insult to the holy book and the Quran" in the Swedish capital.

Iran's top diplomat rebuked Swedish authorities by saying that allowing blasphemy against the holy place and the Quran "for whatever reason" was "unacceptable" and such acts in the name of free speech only "propelled terrorism and extremism."

After the incident, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's power of attorney in Tehran to protest against the despicable act.

"When Muslims are performing the pilgrimage,... insulting theirmality only to spread hatred and violence, exploiting the principle of freedom of expression," the Iranian Foreign Ministry told the Swedish envoy.

The Iranian government said that Stockholm had ventured those who did not adhere to the principle of respect for religious and divine values.

Last week's events were not the first example Swedish authorities allowed the blasphemy of the Al Quran.

In January, the leader of Denmark's far-right party Stram Kure, Rasmus Paludan, burned the Al Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm during protests permitted by local police.

Iran later called the incident an attempt to trigger hatred and violence against Muslims.

Tehran also accused some European countries of allowing extremists to spread hatred of ignorance and Islamic values on the pretext of falsely advocating free speech.