Saudi Arabia calls for Danish diplomacy to protest against burning of copy of Quran

Saudi Arabia summoned the acting head of the Danish embassy in the kingdom on Friday in protest against the burning of a copy of the Quran by an extremist right-wing group in Copenhagen, according to official media outlets.

During a meeting with the acting head of the Danish embassy, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over a memorandum of protest, which included "the kingdom's demand to stop these heinous acts that violate all religious teachings, laws, and international norms." 

The memorandum emphasized "the kingdom's firm rejection of all acts that fuel hatred between religions," as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.

The extremist right-wing group "Dansk Pattriot" had posted a video on Monday showing a man apparently burning a Quran, triggering anger in the Islamic world.

Saudi Arabia also condemned an incident from last month in which an Iraqi refugee residing in Sweden burned pages of the Quran outside the Grand Mosque in Stockholm.

The Iraqi refugee, Swawan Mumika, had deliberately burned and desecrated pages of the Quran in the Swedish capital at the end of June, prompting Riyadh to lodge a memorandum of protest with the Swedish chargé d'affaires.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have called for an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is headquartered in Jeddah, expected to take place on Monday. The meeting aims to address the repeated incidents of Quran desecration in both Sweden and Denmark.

On Thursday, the Secretary-General of the 57-member organization, Hussein Ibrahim Taha, received a phone call from Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, who stated that Stockholm rejects any acts that insult the Quran and wants to maintain good relations with members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as announced by the organization in a statement.



AFP