Iraqis Set Fire to Swedish Embassy Over Offending the Quran

On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani withdrew his charge d'affaires in Sweden, asked the Swedish ambassador to leave Baghdad, and warned that his nation could break relations with the Nordic country.

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This happened "in response to the Swedish government's repeated authorization to burn the noble Koran, insult Islamic sanctities, and burn the Iraqi flag," government spokesman Basem Al-Awadi said.

Al-Sudani's decision was taken after an emergency meeting in which high-level officials related to foreign affairs, national security, military and internal governance were present.

Previously, in the early hours of Thursday, hundreds of Iraqis attacked and burned down the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad in protest of a new authorization by Sweden to burn copies of the Muslim holy book.

Besides describing the attack against its Embassy as "unacceptable", Sweden summoned the Iraqi diplomatic representative in Stockholm.

Prior to this incident, the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Muslims to show their "support for Heaven" in case copies of the Quran were burned again.

He has also asked the Government of Iraq not to limit itself to condemning and denouncing these violations of the Muslim faith.

While this was happening, activists in Sweden had called for the public burning of a copy of the Quran in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. Among them was Salwan Momika.

The Iraqi-born man staged a similar burning next to a mosque in Stockholm in June, the first act of its kind authorized by Swedish police after the courts overturned a previous ban.