Iraq expels Swedish ambassador over planned Quran desecration

Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday in protest at a planned desecration of Holy Quran in Stockholm that had prompted hundreds of protesters to storm and set alight the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital.

An Iraqi government statement added that Baghdad was also recalling its charge d’affaires in Sweden, and Iraq’s state news agency reported that Iraq had suspended the working permit of Sweden’s Ericsson on Iraqi soil.

Protesters in Sweden had applied for and received permission from Swedish police to desecrate the Quran outside the Iraqi embassy on Thursday.

The Iraqi government strongly condemned the burning of the Swedish embassy, according to a statement from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani which declared it a security breach and vowed to protect diplomatic missions.

But Baghdad had also “informed the Swedish government … that any recurrence of the incident on Swedish soil would necessitate severing diplomatic relations”, the statement said.

The decision to recall the charge d’affaires to Sweden came while the protest in Stockholm had started.

Billstrom said the storming of the embassy was “completely unacceptable and the government strongly condemns these attacks”. He added: “The government is in contact with high-level Iraqi representatives to express our dismay.”

Thursday’s demonstration was called by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr to protest against the second planned Koran burning in Sweden in weeks, according to posts in a popular Telegram group linked to the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media.

Sadr, one of Iraq’s most powerful figures, commands hundreds of thousands of followers, whom he has at times called to the streets, including last summer when they occupied Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone and engaged in deadly clashes.