Following the incident of an Iraqi immigrant publicly burning a copy of Islam’s holy book outside a mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called for international action to stop similar incidents in the future.
The 57-member group issued the statement on Sunday after calling an urgent meeting of its executive committee in Jeddah, a city on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia, to discuss the fallout from the sacrilegious act.
OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha stated that the international community must be constantly reminded of the urgent need to uphold international law, which categorically forbids any advocacy of religious hatred.
The most recent development comes after Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, previously advised Sweden to avoid future insults against international sanctuaries and pay close attention to the concepts of responsibility and accountability in this regard.
read more: EU strongly condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran: ‘a clear act of provocation’
Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old immigrant from Iraq, tore up the Qur’an on Wednesday before lighting several of its pages on fire in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque. The Swedish police gave their approval and protection for the insult to the Muslim holy book to be made.
Muslims all over the world were outraged by the incident, which occurred at the same time as the beginning of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha and the conclusion of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Following the incident, thousands of Iraqis gathered close to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad to protest the burning of the Qur’an and demand the ambassador’s expulsion.
People protested the move in the streets in other Muslim nations as well.
The insulter announced late on Thursday that he planned to protest once more in July in an interview with a Swedish newspaper.
In recent years, Sweden has repeatedly allowed Quranic burnings. Near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, a right-wing extremist who is Swedish and Danish burned a copy of the Qur’an in January.
