The Iranian government has refused to send a new ambassador to Sweden after a protester burned a Quran outside a mosque in the capital, Stockholm.
Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old man described as an Iraqi refugee tore up pages of the Qur'an and lit it on fire in front of Stockholm's main mosque on the day of Eid Al-Adha. Swedish police charged him with agitation against an ethnic or national group last week.
Following the incident, Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, blamed the government for granting him the protest permit.
For Muslims, the Quran is the sacred word of God and they view any intentional damage or show of disrespect towards it as deeply offensive.
Minister Amirabdollahian said that despite appointing a new ambassador, Tehran would not send them.
"The process of dispatching them has been held off due to the Swedish government's issuing of a permit to desecrate the Holy Koran", he said in a statement on Twitter.
Iraq's foreign ministry also asked its Swedish counterpart to extradite the man who burned the Quran. They argued that since he still holds Iraqi citizenship, he should face trial in Baghdad.
Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old man described as an Iraqi refugee tore up pages of the Qur'an and lit it on fire in front of Stockholm's main mosque on the day of Eid Al-Adha. Swedish police charged him with agitation against an ethnic or national group last week.
Following the incident, Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, blamed the government for granting him the protest permit.
For Muslims, the Quran is the sacred word of God and they view any intentional damage or show of disrespect towards it as deeply offensive.
Minister Amirabdollahian said that despite appointing a new ambassador, Tehran would not send them.
"The process of dispatching them has been held off due to the Swedish government's issuing of a permit to desecrate the Holy Koran", he said in a statement on Twitter.
Iraq's foreign ministry also asked its Swedish counterpart to extradite the man who burned the Quran. They argued that since he still holds Iraqi citizenship, he should face trial in Baghdad.
