Iran says European states must prevent recurrence of Qur’an desecration

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has said European countries must adopt proper measures aimed at preventing the recurrence of holy Qur’an desecration by extremist individuals or groups.

Nasser Kan’ani once again denounced the recent act of sacrilege against Islam’s most revered book in Sweden while holding a copy of the holy Qur’an at his weekly press briefing in the Iranian capital city of Tehran on Monday.

He said the desecration of the holy Qu'ran is “a shameful act,” stressing that “insulting divine and Abrahamic religions is unacceptable and cannot be justified by any means.”

The senior Iranian diplomat also called on the European states, in which such shameful insults were perpetrated, to take decisive measures against the offenders or hand them over to Muslim countries’ judicial systems for punishment.

Kan’ani went on to say that Iran has summoned Mattias Lentz, Swedish Ambassador to Tehran, sent out a note of protest to Stockholm, and written a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in this regard.

He added that Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has held a telephone conversation with Hissein Ibrahim Taha, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), over the matter.

All such efforts resulted in consensus on an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the latest act of desecration of the holy Qur’an in Sweden, the diplomat said.

Tehran believes that Muslim countries should seriously utilize their potential. Muslim states expect the offenders to be prosecuted, Kan’ani said.

On Friday, members of the Islamophobic and far-right nationalist group “Danske Patrioter (Danish Patriots)” burned a copy of the holy Qur’an in front of Iraq’s Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Earlier this week, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, stomped and kicked the holy Qur’an, just weeks after he set fire to pages of the holy book outside a Stockholm mosque.

In January, Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Danish leader, burned a copy of the Qur’an in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. The incident sparked outrage and condemnation across the Islamic world.

Prisoner exchange with US

Elsewhere in his remarks, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry put the blame on the US administration for prolonging the process of prisoner exchange.

Kan’ani said Washington lacks the resolve to finalize the exchange of prisoners with Iran.

Iran has always been serious about the prisoner swap considering the importance that it attaches to the fate of its citizens, he underlined.

ME