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OIC envoys urge governments to fight Islamophobia amid recurring Qur’an desecration in Europe

Tuesday, 15 August 2023 8:39 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 15 August 2023 9:25 AM ]

Iranians denounce the desecration of the Holy Qur'an during a protest outside the Swedish embassy in Tehran on July 3, 2023. (Photo by Tasnim news agency)

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) ambassadors to Britain have called on governments to fight against Islamophobic acts amid recurring desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden and Denmark.

In a statement released on Monday, the envoys representing the 57-member OIC in the UK warned that acts contemptuous of any religion spark tensions, as well as anger, hatred, and violence.

They also underlined that “all relevant stakeholders, including governments, should redouble efforts to address discrimination, xenophobia, and hate speech in accordance with international human rights law.”

“Governments must not tolerate extremism or the promotion of hatred and lslamophobia, but rather prevent such practices which disrespect of other beliefs and which cannot in any way be categorized as freedom of expression,” they added.

Mehdi Hosseini Matin, the chargé d’affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Britain, said in an X the statement was proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran embassy at the initiative of the Iraq Embassy in London.

Joint Statement of the OIC envoys in the United Kingdom today (August 14th) in condemning the heinous act of Quran burning in Europe; Sweden & Denmark.

This significant statement issued as proposed by Iran (I.R.of) Embassy & initiative of Iraq Embassy in London. pic.twitter.com/xru8wy7oDW
— S.M.Hosseini Matin (@smhmatin) August 14, 2023

Qur’an desecrated for fourth time in two months

The statement was released the same day that two Sweden-based Iraqi men, Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem, desecrated the Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book, for the fourth time in recent months.

They kicked the holy scripture and burned several of its pages in front of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm amid a heavy police presence and a counter-protest.

“I am burning the Qur’an for the fourth time and will burn it for the fifth time on Thursday outside the Iranian Embassy,” said Momika, who was identified as a spy for the Israeli Mossad by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.

Monday’s incident was the second time Momika and Najem burned the Qur’an outside the Swedish Parliament.

They did similar sacrilegious acts in front of Stockholm’s central mosque and Iraq’s embassy in recent months.

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The blasphemous acts, which had been authorized by the Swedish police under the pretext of free-speech laws, sparked a wave of anger and condemnations across the Muslim world.

In Denmark too, the far-right Danish group Danske Patrioter has recently set copies of the Holy Qur’an alight in front of the missions of several Muslim countries in Copenhagen.

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