Baghdad/Stockholm (EFE).- The Iraqi government has warned that it will break diplomatic relations with Sweden “if the Koran is burned again on its territory.
However, in an official statement, Baghdad has also announced that it will punish those responsible for the fire at the embassy of the Nordic country in the Iraqi capital, registered this morning.
“The Iraqi government confirms that it informed the Swedish government yesterday, through diplomatic channels, that it would break diplomatic relations with Sweden in the event that the incident of the burning of the noble Koran was repeated on their lands,” the Iraqi government said after a meeting on Thursday.
He also denounced that “authorizations (for the burning of the Koran) are granted under the pretext of freedom of expression”, which he considered as “provocative actions that offend international pacts and norms of respect for religions, beliefs”, and “constitute a threat to peace and incite a culture of violence and hatred”.
Planned burning in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm
Swedish police have deployed a camera surveillance device in the area near the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm where the burning of a copy of the Koran is authorized and has confirmed that the act will take place as planned.
According to local Swedish media, the event is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. local time (11:00 GMT).
The announcement of the security measures around the Iraqi diplomatic representation in the Swedish capital comes after the Swedish Government described Thursday as “unacceptable” the attack on its Embassy in Iraq, set on fire by demonstrators protesting against the burning of copies of the Koran in the Nordic country, and summoned the Iraqi diplomatic representative in Stockholm.
“The attacks on the Swedish embassy in Iraq are completely unacceptable. This is the second time in a short time that this has happened. Iraq has a responsibility to protect the Swedish embassy in Baghdad. The government will summon the top Iraqi diplomat to Sweden today,” according to a statement by Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.
A group of protesters, allegedly sympathizers of the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr, set fire to the Swedish embassy facilities in the so-called “Green Zone” in the center of the Iraqi capital early Thursday, which houses government institutions and the headquarters of foreign diplomatic missions.
At the end of last June an individual burned a copy of the Koran next to a mosque in Stockholm, in the first act of its kind authorized by the Swedish Police after the courts overturned a previous ban by the authorities citing security reasons.