The United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations has described the burning of the Islamic Holy Book, Quran in Sweden as “unacceptable and condemnable.”
A high representative of the UN’s Alliance of Civilizations, Miguel Moratinos, who stated this in a statement on Friday, said that desecration of sacred books “can lead to incitement of violence,” adding that “such vile act is disrespectful to Muslims who are celebrating the holy occasion of Eid Al-Adha,” the festival of sacrifice, Anadolu reports.
Moratinos reiterated the importance of upholding the freedom of expression as a fundamental human right, but added that the “desecration of sacred books and places of worship as well as religious symbols is unacceptable and can lead to incitement of violence.”
A person identified as Salwan Momika burned a copy of the Muslim holy book under Police protection in front of a Stockholm mosque on Wednesday.
The extremist’s provocative act was timed to coincide with Eid al-Adha, one of the major Islamic religious festivals celebrated by Muslims worldwide.
The decision to permit the protest was made in accordance with the right of freedom of speech, Swedish police said, adding that the demonstration does not pose an immediate security risk.
READ ALSO: Russia Killed 136 Children In Ukraine In 2022 – United Nations
But allowing such an inflammatory protest stirred a backlash in Turkey, a NATO member state that has obstructed Sweden’s accession bid. Sweden and neighboring Finland both formally applied to join the bloc after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey’s foreign minister condemned the protest on Wednesday, calling it a “heinous act.”
“It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression. To turn a blind eye to such heinous acts is to be complicit in them,” Hakan Fidan said in a statement.
The Turkish government’s Director of Communicaitons Fahrettin Altun added in a tweet: “We are sick and tired of enabling of Islamophobia and continued instances of hatred for our religion on the part of European authorities especially in Sweden.”
“Those who seek to become our allies in NATO, cannot tolerate or enable destructive behaviors of Islamophobic and xenophobic terrorists,” he said.
Iraq condemned the Swedish authorities’ decision to grant an “extremist” permission to burn the Quran.
The act has elicited widespread condemnation from the Islamic world, including Türkiye, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Senegal, Morocco, and Mauritania.
“These events inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world and represent a dangerous provocation for them,” the foreign ministry in Baghdad said.
Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr called for a demonstration outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad to demand the removal of the ambassador, charging that his state is “hostile to Islam”.
READ ALSO: Myanmar Junta Confirms Deadly Air Strike On Village, United Nations React
Iran joined in the condemnation, calling the Quran burning “provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable”.
“The government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran… do not tolerate such an insult and strongly condemn it,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani.
“The Swedish government is expected to seriously consider the principle of responsibility and accountability in this regard, while preventing the repetition of insulting the holy sanctities,” he added.
Saudi Arabia, which hosted around 1.8 million Muslim pilgrims for the hajj that ended on Wednesday, also denounced the Quran burning.
“These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification,” the Saudi foreign ministry said.
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, called the Quran burning a “disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims” as they mark Eid.
The Cairo-based Arab League branded the Quran burning an “assault on the core of our Islamic faith”.
Kuwait called for perpetrators of such “hostile acts” to be brought to justice and “prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith”.
