Iraq tells Sweden it will cut ties if Koran burned again

After hundreds of Muslims stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire in protest over plans for one to be destroyed in Stockholm later on Thursday, Iraq warned Sweden that it will break diplomatic relations if a Koran is burned again. 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. Billstrom said what happened was “completely unacceptable and the government strongly condemns these attacks”. He added: “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. In a tweet posted on Thursday, Sadr urged the Iraqi government to adopt a firm stance in addition to condemnation. “I will wait for the firm official response before any action of my own”, Sadr tweeted. Finnish news agency STT reported that the Finnish embassy, which is in part of the same enclosure as the Swedish, had also been evacuated but that staff were safe and unhurt. Swedish police on Wednesday granted an application for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday, the police permit showed, and two people were expected to participate. Swedish news agency TT reported that the two planned to burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag at the public meeting, and the duo included a man who had set a Koran on fire outside a Stockholm mosque in June. Swedish police denied several applications earlier this year for protests that were set to include burning the Koran, citing security concerns. Courts have since overturned the police’s decisions, saying such acts are protected by the country’s far-reaching freedom of speech laws. The Swedish government said this month it is considering changing the law to allow police to stop people from setting the Koran on fire in public if they endangered Sweden’s security. A series of videos posted to the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showed people gathering around the Swedish embassy around 1 a.m. on Thursday (2200 GMT on Wednesday) chanting pro-Sadr slogans and storming the embassy complex around an hour later. “Yes, yes to the Koran,” protesters chanted. Videos later showed smoke rising from a building in the embassy complex and protesters standing on its roof. Iraq’s foreign ministry also condemned the incident and said in a statement the Iraqi government had instructed security forces to carry out a swift investigation, identify perpetrators and hold them to account. Security personnel had been stationed inside the embassy by Thursday’s daybreak, and smoke was rising from the structure while firefighters put out tenacious embers, according to witnesses interviewed by Reuters. Later, in an effort to remove the remaining dozen or so demonstrators from the area, Iraqi security personnel charged at them. Beforehand, protesters briefly threw rocks and other missiles at the numerous security personnel gathering. After an Iraqi man burned a Koran in Stockholm late last month, Sadr called for protests against Sweden and the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador. The individual was cited to authorities for incitement against an ethnic or national group after the fire. He identified himself as an Iraqi immigrant wanting to outlaw the intoxicants in a press interview. In the wake of that Koran burning, there were two significant demonstrations in front of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, with demonstrators once entering the embassy’s grounds. Several Muslim nations, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Morocco, have expressed their outrage at the incident, with Iraq calling for the man’s extradition so that he might stand trial there. Despite adding that Sweden’s granting of the permit supported freedom of expression rather than endorsing the activity, the United States denounced it nonetheless. (With agency inputs)