Saudi FM condemns Quran desecration as OIC decries response by Sweden, Denmark

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Monday participated in an extraordinary meeting held by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation during which the organization voiced “disappointment” with Sweden’s and Denmark’s response to a spate of Quran burnings.

Prince Faisal, who participated in the meeting virtually, “strongly condemned and denounced the repeated attacks on the sanctity of the Holy Quran,” according to the Saudi Press Agency. The recent Quran burnings have sparked outrage across the Middle East.

“The minister emphasized the significance of freedom of expression as a moral value that promotes respect and coexistence among people, rather than being used as a tool for sowing hatred and conflicts between cultures and nations,” SPA said.

“He stressed the importance of spreading the values of tolerance and moderation while denouncing all forms of practices that incite hatred and contribute to violence and extremism.”

In the final statement after the meeting, OIC called on members states to take steps they see appropriate “in their relations with the countries where the desecration of the Holy Quran is taking place.”

The action can either be political including recalling their ambassadors in these states for consultation or economically and culturally.

The statement also said that the organization decided to “dispatch an OIC delegation led by the Secretary General to engage the Commission of the European Union” to express the member states’ condemnation of the recent events.

Secretary-general Hissein Brahim Taha called on Sweden and Denmark to prevent Quran desecration and “expressed his disappointment that no measures were taken in this regard so far,” the 57-member, Jeddah-based body said in a statement after the opening session of an extraordinary meeting on the issue.

“It is unfortunate that the concerned authorities claiming freedom of expression continue to provide licenses to repeat these acts contrary to international law, and this leads to a lack of respect for religions,” Taha said in remarks during the meeting.

Around the time Taha was speaking, two men set the Quran alight in the latest such protest in Stockholm.

One of the men, Sweden-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, also burned pages of the Quran outside Stockholm’s main mosque in late June and, earlier this month, stomped on the Quran outside the Iraqi embassy.

In Denmark, far-right group Danske Patrioter last week posted a video in which a man is seen desecrating and burning what appears to be the Quran and trampling an Iraqi flag.

The incidents have stoked unrest in Iraq, where hundreds of demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy earlier this month and set fires within the compound.

The Danish Refugee Council has said its office in the southern Iraqi city of Basra came under “armed attack” in response to the Danske Patrioter video.

Governments across the region have also expressed their outrage.

Iraq expelled Sweden’s ambassador and Iran said it would not allow a new Swedish ambassador into the country.

Saudi Arabia, home to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, has in recent weeks summoned Swedish and Danish diplomats to deliver protest notes denouncing “disgraceful” acts against the Quran.

Ahead of Monday’s OIC meeting, both Sweden and Denmark reached out to try to calm tensions.

On Thursday, Taha received a phone call from Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, who said Stockholm rejects acts that insult the Quran and wants to maintain good relations with OIC members, the organization said in a statement.

On Sunday, Taha received a call from Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who also “condemned” insults to the Quran and said his government was “studying this issue with great interest,” the OIC said.