UN voices concern over Koran burning in Sweden after freedom of speech protest sparked anger around the Muslim world
- A Koran was burnt by an Iraqi man outside Stockholm’s main mosque on June 28
- The stunt triggered an outpouring of anger and protests across the Muslim world
The United Nations has expressed concern over the burning of a Koran in Sweden last week after the freedom of speech protests sparked anger in the Muslim world.
An urgent session will be held by the UN’s Human Rights Council to address the incident, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
A Koran was burnt by an Iraqi man outside the Swedish capital’s main mosque on June 28, triggering a diplomatic backlash and resulted in the Swedish embassy in Baghdad being stormed by furious Iraqi protesters.
Anger was also expressed by other Muslim majority nations, including Turkey, which is currently holding up Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance.
Pakistan and other nations called for a discussion of ‘the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Koran in some European and other countries.’
A Koran was burnt by Salwan Momika (pictured) – an Iraqi immigrant – outside the Swedish capital’s main mosque on June 28, triggering a diplomatic backlash and resulted in the Swedish embassy in Baghdad being stormed by furious Iraqi protesters
Salwan Momika, 37, who fled from Iraq to Sweden several years ago, stomped on the Muslim holy book after placing bacon between its pages, and set several pages alight in Stockholm – all in the face of angry counter-protesters.
His actions came as Muslims around the world began marking the Eid al-Adha holiday and as the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia was drawing to a close – making Momika’s stunt even more controversial.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Council meets for three regular sessions per year.
The UN’s top rights body is currently in the second session, which runs until July 14.
The 47-member council will change its agenda to stage an urgent debate, following a request from Pakistan.
‘The urgent debate will most likely be convened this week at a date and time to be determined by the bureau of the Human Rights Council that is meeting today,’ council spokesman Pascal Sim told reporters.
Khalil Hashmi, Pakistan’s ambassador in Geneva, wrote to the council president on Monday on behalf of the 19 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation who are also on the council, plus other OIC countries, to request an urgent debate.
Activists of right-wing religious Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party burn Sweden’s flag during a demonstration in Multan on July 3
People rally to denounce the burning of the Koran in Sweden and the Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, in Sanaa, Yemen July 4
Supporters of Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr, demonstrate inside the courtyard of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad after they breached the building briefly over the burning of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden, on June 29
Hashmi said the ‘provocative acts’ on June 28 had been widely condemned and strongly rejected worldwide. ‘These unabated incidents demand immediate action by the Human Rights Council,’ he said.
While recognising the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the OIC group wants action to prevent recurrences and the development of legal deterrence measures against other such protests.
The group also intends to present a draft resolution for adoption by the council members as an outcome of the debate, and promised to circulate the draft text shortly.
Algeria, Malaysia, Qatar, Sudan, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates are among the 19 OIC countries on the 47-member Human Rights Council.
At an extraordinary meeting on Sunday at its Jeddah headquarters in Saudi Arabia, the OIC called for collective measures to avoid future Koran burnings.
Pakistani traders shout slogans and hold placards reading in Urdu ‘Death to Sweden’, July 3
Protesters belonging to Pasban-e-Hurriyat, a Kashmiri refugees organisation, burn a Sweden flag during a demonstration in Muzaffarabad on July 4
Pakistani traders burn a mock Swedish flag as they attend a protest against the burning of a copy of the Koran in Sweden, July 3
The Swedish government on Sunday condemned last week’s Koran burning as ‘Islamophobic’.
But it added in a foreign ministry statement that Sweden had a ‘constitutionally-protected right to freedom of assembly, expression and demonstration’.
Countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco have summoned Swedish ambassadors in protest.
Swedish police had granted Momika a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over ‘agitation’.
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