The burning of a Koran in Sweden in the hands of a 37-year-old Iraqi in front of a mosque sparked multiple reactions around the world. The news did not go unnoticed by the Pope Franciscowho admitted feeling “outraged” and stated that “any book considered sacred by its people must be respected.”
“I am outraged and disgusted by such actions. Any book held sacred by its people must be respected out of respect for those who believe in it. Freedom of expression should never be used as an excuse to offend others,” the Pope said in an interview with Hamad Al Kaabi, director of the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al Ittihad, which will be published this Monday and was reported advancement.
“One day young people will judge us well if we have given them a solid foundation to create new encounters of civilization; and they will judge us badly if we have offered them nothing more than mirages, vacillations with the risk of hateful confrontations,” added Jorge Bergoglio during the interview.
According to the Pontiff, “The only way to protect young people from negative, false messages, from fabricated news and material temptations, from hatred and prejudice, is not to leave them alone in this battle, but to provide them with the necessary tools that are freedom. , discernment and responsibility”
Burning of the Koran in Sweden
The event to which the Pope referred occurred last Wednesday, when the Iraqi Salwan Momikawho fled to Sweden years ago, he stomped on a copy of the Koran before igniting several pages in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque.
The Iraqi government has asked Sweden to extradite Momika. The protest during which the Koran was burned had been authorized by the Police in the name of freedom of expression.
The burning caused fear about its consequences in Sweden’s process to join NATO, which needs the agreement of Turkey, a country that strongly condemned the burning of the book.
This weekend, the Swedish government expressed itself in this regard and described the act as an “Islamophobic” act, after the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which brings together 57 countries, called for measures to prevent future burning.
“The Swedish government fully understands that Islamophobic acts committed during demonstrations in Sweden can be offensive to Muslims. CWe strongly condemn these acts, which in no way reflect the opinion of the Government,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a note, while recalling that Sweden enjoys freedom of expression protected by the Constitution.
At an extraordinary meeting of the OIC in Jeddah, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, called by Iran to discuss what happened in Stockholm, the OIC Secretary General, Hissein Brahim Taha, said, quoted by Swedish television, that “It is necessary to send continuous appeals to the international community to urgently introduce an international law that clearly prohibits the promotion of religious hatred.”
This Sunday, meanwhile, dozens of Muslim activists participated in a rally in Lahore (Pakistan) against what happened in Stockholm. The protesters chanted anti-Swedish slogans and then set fire to a banner with a Swedish flag drawn on it.
Repudiation of Vladimir Putin
The repudiation of the Swedish government, the Muslim countries and the Vatican was also joined by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
The desecration of the Quran “It’s a crime in Russia unlike other countries,” Putin was quoted as saying by the state news agency TASS.
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“We know that other countries act differently: they don’t respect people’s religious feelings and keep saying that this is not a crime,” the Russian leader said during a visit to the Dzhuma Mosque in Derbent, Dagestan.
“In our country this is a crime: disrespect and incitement to interreligious hatred,” he added. In this way, the Kremlin leader established his position regarding the decision of the Swedish police that allowed the burning of a copy of the Koran, which inflamed the anger of the Turkish authorities.
Source: Ambito
