AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): An informed source at the Iranian Foreign Ministry says Tehran will not send a new ambassador to Sweden over the desecration of the Holy Qur'an in the Scandinavian country.
The source made the remarks on Sunday, four days after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden stomped on Islam’s holy book and set several pages alight outside Stockholm's central mosque under a heavy police presence.
The blasphemous act had been authorized by the Swedish police under the pretext of free-speech laws.
“Although the administrative procedures have been completed to send the new ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Sweden, the Foreign Ministry has presently no plans to send the new envoy to this country due to the insult to the Holy Qur’an there,” the informed source said.
The sacrilegious Qur’an burning, which coincided with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) at the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, sparked a wave of anger and condemnations across the Muslim world.
On Thursday, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's chargé d'affaires in the capital Tehran.
During the session, the ministry's director-general for Western Europe told the Swedish envoy that the act of insult served as an instance of hatemongering and inclination towards aggression that had been excused through the abuse of the principle of free speech.
Stockholm's silence had emboldened those who have violated one of the fundamental and obvious principles of human rights, namely the principle of respect for religious and divine values, the Iranian official added.
Back in January, a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist burned a copy of the Qur’an near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm, also triggering outrage in the Muslim countries.
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