Iraq expels Swedish ambassador over planned Koran burning

In retaliation for a planned burning of the Koran in Stockholm, which caused hundreds of protesters to storm and set ablaze the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital, Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday. According to a statement from the Iraqi government, Baghdad was also returning its charge d’affaires in Sweden. Iraq’s state news agency also stated that Sweden’s Ericsson had its work permit on Iraqi soil cancelled. Police in Sweden approved a request from protesters to burn the Koran in front of the Iraqi consulate on Thursday. Nevertheless, the demonstrators departed the area after an hour without lighting the book on fire. They had kicked and partially destroyed it. Tobias Billstrom, the foreign minister of Sweden, stated that although embassy personnel were secure, Iraqi authorities had fallen short of their obligation to safeguard the embassy in accordance with the Vienna Convention. According to a statement from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, the Iraqi government vehemently condemned the fire of the Swedish embassy and committed to defend diplomatic outposts. But Baghdad had also “informed the Swedish government … that any recurrence of the incident involving the burning of the Holy Qur’an on Swedish soil would necessitate severing diplomatic relations”, the statement said. While the protest in Stockholm was in progress but before the demonstrators left without setting the Koran on fire, the decision to recall the charge d’affaires to Sweden was made. According to Billstrom, the government “strongly condemns these attacks” and deemed the storming of the embassy “completely unacceptable.” He continued, “The government is in contact with high-level Iraqi representatives to express our dismay.” According to messages in a well-known Telegram channel associated with the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media, the Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s supporters called for the protest on Thursday to express their opposition to the second planned Koran burning in Sweden in recent weeks. One of the most influential people in Iraq, Sadr commands hundreds of thousands of supporters, many of whom he has summoned to the streets on occasion, most recently last summer when they invaded Baghdad’s heavily protected Green Zone and engaged in fatal fighting. (With agency inputs)