Al-Sadr mobilizes for an “angry” demonstration and demands the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq
Al-Sadr mobilizes for an “angry” demonstration and demands the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq
2023-06-29 02:18
Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, called on his supporters to stage an “angry mass” demonstration against the Swedish embassy in the capital, Baghdad, calling at the same time the federal government to expel the charge d’affaires of that embassy, in protest against an Iraqi-born person burning a copy of the Quran in Sweden.
This came in a tweet he posted on the social networking sites “Twitter”, which was followed by Shafaq News Agency.
Al-Sadr also called for among the demonstration’s demands to be “the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador who represents his country that is hostile to Islam and sanctities, and supports indecency and severing relations with it.”
The leader of the Sadrist movement urged his country’s authorities to “withdraw the Iraqi nationality from the vile Iraqi criminal who brazenly and publicly burned the Book of God,” calling on the judiciary to work to return him to Iraq, or to judge him in absentia with “a judgment befitting the crime in defense of Islam and the sect.”
Al-Sadr asked the Iraqi government to “protect those linked to the criminal al-Zunim in Iraq in order to preserve their lives.”
He also said, “If I were diligent, I would issue fatwas regarding his apostasy if he was a Muslim, and his hostility to Islam if he was not a Muslim.”
Later, the Central Committee of the Sadrist movement announced in a statement, “The angry mass demonstration of millions will be in Baghdad in front of the Swedish embassy tomorrow, Friday, after the Maghrib prayer.”
The statement added, “As for the governorates, it is spontaneous from today, after Friday prayers.”
Yesterday, Wednesday, the Iraqi government, through its spokesman, Basem Al-Awadi, condemned the burning of a copy of the Qur’an in Sweden by a refugee of Iraqi origin, considering the incident “a hateful act of aggression,” warning against allowing “ignorant extremists to provoke believers and commit their foolishness without deterrence.”
A young man tore up a Koran and set it on fire at Stockholm’s central mosque on Wednesday, the first day of Eid al-Adha.
Earlier, the Swedish police announced that they had authorized the organization of a demonstration whose organizer, an Iraqi young man named “Sloan Momica”, plans to burn a copy of the Holy Qur’an outside the Stockholm Grand Mosque on Wednesday, coinciding with the start of Eid al-Adha.
In its decision, the police said, “The nature of the security risks associated with burning the Qur’an does not, under current laws, justify the refusal of the request.”
The “green light” came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected a police decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm during which the Koran was to be burned.
The refugee from Iraq made statements to the French press, in which he said: “I want to demonstrate in front of the Grand Mosque in Stockholm and I want to express my opinion about the Qur’an… I will tear up the Qur’an and burn it.”
In statements he made to the newspaper “Aftonbladet” in April, Momica, who fled to Sweden from Iraq, said that “his goal was not to obstruct Sweden’s efforts to join (NATO)”, and that he considered waiting for the Scandinavian country to join the alliance before organizing the demonstration. .
“I do not wish to harm this country that welcomed me and preserved my dignity,” Momica added.
Swedish police said Wednesday that they had requested reinforcements to maintain order.
The Swedish move angered Turkey at a time when Sweden is seeking to join NATO.
The Swedish police had previously allowed Rasmus Paludan to organize a demonstration in January, a Swedish-Danish activist who had previously been convicted of racism.
Paludan caused riots in Sweden last year when he toured the country publicly burning copies of the Koran.
shafaq.com
