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Iraq Asks Sweden to Hand Over Perpetrator Who Burnt Copy of The Quran

Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raises of the Quran, the Muslims' holy book, during a demonstration in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in response to the burning of Quran in Sweden, Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raises of the Quran, the Muslims' holy book, during a demonstration in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in response to the burning of Quran in Sweden, Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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Iraq Asks Sweden to Hand Over Perpetrator Who Burnt Copy of The Quran

Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raises of the Quran, the Muslims' holy book, during a demonstration in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in response to the burning of Quran in Sweden, Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raises of the Quran, the Muslims' holy book, during a demonstration in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in response to the burning of Quran in Sweden, Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq will be taking several measures against the Iraqi refugee who burnt a copy of the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm, including asking the Swedish authorities to hand him over for trial, the Iraqi Consul General in Jeddah, Mohammad al-Naqshbandi, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.

On the first day of Eid al-Adha, an Iraqi refugee stomped on and burnt pages of the Islamic holy book outside a mosque in Stockholm . Swedish authorities authorized the protest under freedom of expression and assembly.

Naqshbandi, Iraq's delegate to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), explained that the government had called for a high-level meeting.

He regretted the recurrence of such actions against the Holy Quran and even more that the person in question is of Iraqi origin this time.

"It pains us that this act took place on the first day of the Muslim Eid and in front of a mosque where the blessed Eid Al-Adha prayer was held”, he said.

Naqshbandi indicated that Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein took several steps, including contacting the UN Sec-Gen. in this regard.

Hussein received a phone call from his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billstrom to discuss the incident.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish Ambassador, Jessica Svardstrom, and notified her of Iraq's strong protest over her government's permission for an extremist to burn a copy of the Quran.

Naqshbandi explained that under Iraqi law, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Judge Faeq Zaidan, took legal action against the Iraqi person who burned a copy of the Holy Quran and had not acquired Swedish citizenship yet.

Among the legal measures, Iraq demanded he be repatriated, under the article mentioned in the Iraqi constitution regarding insulting Islamic sanctities.

Asharq Al-Awsat asked the diplomat about the motives for this act, and Naqshbandi explained that some institutions or parties push for such actions.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary meeting of the open-ended Executive Committee to discuss measures and the repercussions of the incident. Naqshbandi described the final statement as solid and practical.

The OIC called for unified and collective measures to prevent the recurrence of acts of desecration of the Quran

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.