THE Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom’s strong condemnation and denunciation on Wednesday of an extremist’s burning of a copy of the Qur’an at the Stockholm Central Mosque in Sweden during the Eid Al-Adha holiday.
“These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification, and they clearly incite hatred, exclusion and racism, and directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states,” the foregin ministry statement said.
A man was charged by Swedish police with “agitation against an ethnic group” following his desecration and setting fire to pages of the Qur’an outside the main mosque in Stockholm.
Salwan Momika, 37, who fled from Iraq to Sweden several years ago, said he wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of speech. “This is democracy. It is in danger if they tell us we can’t do this,” he said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Momika’s protest was “legal but not appropriate,” and it was up to the police to permit it or not.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also condemned Momika’s protest as despicable.
“It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression,” he said.
