Iraq expels the Swedish ambassador because of the intention to burn the Koran

BAGHDAD/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday in protest at a plan to burn the Koran in Stockholm, prompting hundreds of protesters to storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire.

A statement by the Iraqi government stated that Baghdad had also summoned the charge d’affaires in Sweden, and the official Iraqi News Agency stated that Iraq had suspended the work permit of the Swedish company Ericsson on Iraqi territory.

Anti-Islam protesters, who include an Iraqi immigrant to Sweden who burned a Koran outside a Stockholm mosque in June, applied for and received permission from Swedish police to burn a Koran outside the Iraqi embassy on Thursday.

In this case, protesters kicked and partially destroyed a book they said was the Qur’an, but left the area after one hour without setting it on fire. Muslims believe that the Qur’an, the central religious text of Islam, is a revelation from God.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said the embassy staff were safe but that the Iraqi authorities had failed to live up to their responsibility to protect the embassy.

The Iraqi government strongly condemned the burning of the Swedish embassy, ​​according to a statement by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, in which he declared a security violation, and pledged to protect diplomatic missions.

The statement said that Baghdad “informed the Swedish government … that any recurrence of the incident of burning the Holy Qur’an on Swedish soil will require the severing of diplomatic relations.”

The decision to summon the chargé d’affaires to Sweden came during the start of the protest in Stockholm but before the demonstrators left without burning the Koran.

Bellstrom said the storming of the embassy was “totally unacceptable and the government strongly condemns these attacks.” He added: “The government is in contact with high-level Iraqi representatives to express our displeasure.”

In Washington, the State Department strongly condemned the attack on the embassy and criticized Iraqi security forces for not preventing protesters from breaching the diplomatic center.

The European Union also strongly condemned the attack and said it looked forward to the “rapid adoption of the necessary security measures” by Iraq to prevent further incidents.

Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the demonstration on Thursday to protest the second Quran burning planned in Sweden within weeks, according to posts in a Telegram group linked to the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media.

Al-Sadr, one of Iraq’s most powerful figures, leads hundreds of thousands of followers, whom he has sometimes called into the streets, including last summer when they occupied Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone and bloody clashes.

He stood by the storming of the embassy on Thursday, telling a news conference that the United States “has no right to condemn the burning of the Swedish embassy, ​​but it should have condemned the burning of the Koran.”

A headache for the Swedish government

Several videos posted to the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showed people gathering around the Swedish embassy around 1 a.m. Thursday (2200 GMT Wednesday) shouting pro-Sadr slogans and storming the embassy compound about an hour later.

The demonstrators chanted, “Yes to the Koran.”

Videos later showed smoke billowing from a building in the embassy compound with protesters standing on its roof.

By dawn on Thursday, security forces were deployed inside the embassy and smoke billowed from the building as firefighters put out stubborn embers, according to Reuters witnesses.

Sweden has seen several Quran burnings in recent years, mostly by far-right and anti-Muslim activists. Some of the fires sparked clashes between police and Muslim demonstrators in Sweden.

The fires caused outrage in the Islamic world. Sweden’s security services said such actions made the country less safe.

Police refused some requests earlier this year for protests set to include Quran burnings, citing security concerns, but courts have overturned those decisions, saying such acts are protected by Sweden’s far-reaching freedom of speech laws.

Freedom of expression laws are protected by the constitution and cannot be easily changed, but the government has said it is considering legal changes that would allow police to stop burnings in public places if they endanger Sweden’s security.

The fires also complicated Sweden’s bid to join NATO. And while Turkey said this month it would endorse Sweden’s request, previous burnouts infuriated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson criticized the arson and said that while it was legal, it was inappropriate.

(Reporting: Taimur Azhari, Anna Ringström, and Subanta Mukherjee; Additional reporting by Johan Ahlander and Marie Manns in Stockholm, Louise Brioche Rasmussen in Copenhagen and Ahmed Rashid in Baghdad. Writing by Taimur Azhari and Johan Alander. Editing by Tom Hogg/Tom Perry, Lincoln Fest, Bernadette Boehm, William Maclean

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