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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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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Eases Restrictions on Syria While Keeping Sanctions in Place

A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
A worker stands at a bakery after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria's transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid after opposition factions ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month.

The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions.

The move does not lift sanctions on the nation that has been battered by more than a decade of war, but indicates a limited show of US support for the new transitional government.

The general license underscores America's commitment to ensuring its sanctions “do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance,” a Treasury Department statement reads.

Since Assad's ouster, representatives from the nation's new de facto authorities have said that the new Syria will be inclusive and open to the world.

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 Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.

The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaeda, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster. The US and UN have long designated HTS as a terrorist organization.

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.

Much of the world ended diplomatic relations with Assad because of his crackdown on protesters, and sanctioned him and his Russian and Iranian associates.

Syria’s infrastructure has been battered, with power cuts rampant in the country and some 90% of its population living in poverty. About half the population won’t know where its next meal will come from, as inflation surges.

The pressure to lift sanctions has mounted in recent years as aid agencies continue to cut programs due to donor fatigue and a massive 2023 earthquake that rocked Syria and Türkiye. The tremor killed over 59,000 people and destroyed critical infrastructure that couldn’t be fixed due to sanctions and overcompliance, despite the US announcing some humanitarian exemptions.