This step comes hours after protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it on fire.
On Thursday, the Iraqi Prime Minister ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad, just before a rally in Stockholm where a man threatened to burn a copy of the Quran.
In a statement, Muhammad Chia Al-Sudani called on the Swedish ambassador in Baghdad to leave Iraqi territory, adding that the Iraqi Chargé d’Affairs in Stockholm had been summoned.
The government statement stated that this decision comes after “repeated incidents of desecration of the Holy Qur’an” with the permission of the Swedish government and “insulting Islamic shrines and burning the Iraqi flag.”
The Iraqi authorities also suspended the operating license of the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson on Iraqi soil.
On Thursday, a man trampled the Koran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, but decided not to burn it, as announced. He was upset by a few dozen people, most of whom were hostile to his actions.
One of the organizers of the Stockholm rally, Silwan Momica, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, announced on Facebook that he wanted to burn a copy of the Quran and an Iraqi flag.
Attack on the Embassy of Sweden in Baghdad at dawn
The expulsion of the Swedish ambassador comes hours after the Scandinavian embassy in Baghdad was set on fire before dawn today, Thursday, during a demonstration organized by supporters of religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
The Iraqi authorities condemned the attack on the embassy building, describing it as a “security breach”.
Iraqi riot police deployed in large numbers in pursuit of dozens of demonstrators who stormed the building and stayed in it after the fire broke out, according to what journalists on the ground reported.
Smoke rose from the roof of the embassy building in the morning.
On Thursday, Sweden announced that it had summoned the Iraqi deputy ambassador over the incident.
“What happened is completely unacceptable, and the government condemns these attacks in the strongest possible terms,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry told AFP that embassy staff were unharmed.
“We are aware of the situation. Our staff at our embassy are safe and the ministry is in regular contact with them,” the ministry wrote in an email.
In the Iraqi capital, several cars were set on fire, and security forces used water cannons and electric batons to drive demonstrators away from the embassy.
The demonstrators responded by throwing stones. Numerous copies of the Islamic Bible and pictures of Muhammad al-Sadr, the influential Shiite cleric and father of Muqtada al-Sadr, were waved through the night.
The row comes after Swedish police allowed a controversial rally in Stockholm on Thursday organized by Sloane Momica.
The Iraqi refugee residing in Sweden confirmed on his Facebook page that he intends to burn a copy of the Qur’an as well as the Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi embassy.
Momica actually burned a few pages of a copy of the Quran on June 28 in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque, during the Eid al-Adha holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world.
This first incident drew widespread condemnation from across the Muslim world.
“Our mobilization today to denounce the burning of the Qur’an is nothing but love and faith,” said protester Hassan Ahmed in Baghdad.
“We call on the Swedish and Iraqi governments to stop this kind of initiative,” he added.
Today, Thursday, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “in the strongest terms” the fire on the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, calling on the security forces to open an “urgent investigation,” according to a press release.
Quran burning has been used as a political ploy in Sweden and other European countries before, sometimes by the far right.
Many Muslims consider it offensive and inflammatory, some have called for it to be banned, while others claim it should not be banned to preserve freedom of expression.
