The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received today, Friday, a letter from its Swedish counterpart expressing its regret over the insult to the Holy Quran.
Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Sahaf said in a statement, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received, through its embassy in Stockholm, a copy of the message of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its undersecretary Jan Knutsen, addressed to the heads of missions of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, regarding insulting the Holy Quran in Stockholm, in which he expressed his deep regret for what happened on Wednesday, the first day of Eid al-Adha, in front of the Stockholm mosque.
Al-Sahaf indicated that “the letter confirmed that the Swedish government strongly rejects such anti-Islamic actions, and that it does not support or condone in any way the anti-Islamic views expressed by the person concerned during this incident,” adding that “the Swedish government fully understands that Muslims in Sweden and in other countries are offended by what happened.”
He explained, “The police are in the process of conducting an investigation into suspected violations in accordance with the Swedish hate crimes law,” noting that “Sweden has a constitutional right to freedom of assembly, expression, and demonstration, and that the police make decisions to allow demonstrations independently.”
He added, “The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed the police of the relevant considerations from its point of view.”
Al-Sahhaf explained that “the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs reflects the values and ethics of the Iraqi state and its people, who respect religious sanctities and see a high sensitivity in this matter, and the position of the ministry continues successively to stress the importance of the Swedish side’s response to the Iraqi government’s demand to extradite the perpetrator of this heinous act to be punished according to Iraqi law.”
Source: National Iraqi News Agency