Did Sweden apologize for the Quran burning incident?
After an Arab and Islamic uproar and international criticism following the Swedish authorities’ permission to burn a copy of the Quran in front of its largest mosque, Stockholm sought to break its isolation.
The crisis began with an incident in Iraq when an Iraqi citizen burned a copy of the Quran, and its course seems to be linked to the land of Mesopotamia, as the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced that its embassy in Sweden received a copy of a message sent by Stockholm to the heads of missions of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The message included an apology for burning a copy of the Quran near a mosque in the Swedish capital last Wednesday.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its Twitter page that its Swedish counterpart expressed “deep regret” for the incident that took place on Wednesday.
The statement affirmed that Stockholm “strongly rejects such acts hostile to Islam and does not support or tolerate any opinions hostile to Islam expressed by the person involved in this incident,” according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement.
According to the Iraqi statement, the Swedish Foreign Ministry indicated that the government understands the feelings of Muslims inside and outside the country regarding the “insult,” and that the police are “conducting an investigation into suspected violations in accordance with Swedish hate crime laws,” noting that Sweden has laws that guarantee “freedom of assembly, expression, and demonstration,” and that the police independently decide to allow protests, and the Swedish Foreign Ministry informed the police of “the relevant considerations from its perspective.”
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry emphasized in its statement that it sees a “high sensitivity” in this matter and reiterated its position by demanding that Sweden hand over the person who burned a copy of the Quran, of Iraqi origin, to “face punishment according to Iraqi law,” according to the statement.
In the wake of the crisis, Arab countries summoned Swedish ambassadors on their territories to convey their strong protest against Stockholm’s evasion of its international responsibility and its disregard for social values.
