TEHRAN -- Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned the chargé d’affaires of Sweden to convey Tehran’s strong protest at desecration of the Holy Qur’an by a Swedish far-right group during the fasting month of Ramadan.
The Swedish envoy was summoned by the ministry’s head of the Third Western Europe Bureau, who expressed Iran’s strong protest at the sacrilege of Islam’s holy book by the leader of the far-right group under the protection of Sweden’s police and on the pretext of the freedom of expression.
Rasmus Paludan, the Danish leader of Sweden’s far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, tried to burn a copy of the Qur’an in a heavily-populated Muslim area on Saturday.
Paludan, accompanied by police, went to an open public space in the southern Swedish city of Linkoping and reportedly placed the Muslim holy book down and tried to set it on fire while ignoring protests from onlookers.
During the Sunday summoning, the Iranian Foreign Ministry official strongly condemned the sacrilege of the Qur’an, reminding the Sweden’s government of its responsibility in this regard.
He also called on Sweden to take an immediate and categorical step to end desecration of the Holy Qur’an and guarantee that such acts would not be repeated in the future.
The ministry official added that insulting the sanctities of more than two billion Muslims of the world and hurting their feelings is the worst possible abuse of freedom of speech.
“This regrettable incident, which was carried out under protection of the Swedish police has marred the image of Sweden among Muslims of the world,” the official said.
The Swedish diplomat expressed regret over the incident, adding that he will inform his country’s officials of Iran’s protest as soon as possible.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman

Saeed Khatibzadeh denounced the desecration, saying the blasphemous act is a clear example of hatemongering and in contravention of speech freedom.
Clashes with counter-demonstrators continued in Sweden for the third consecutive night over desecration, police said Sunday.
In a statement, police said the protesters burnt litter bins, a bus and a car in a series of incidents in the southern city of Malmo overnight.
On Saturday, fierce clashes broke out between police and protesters in a Muslim-dominated area in central Sweden.