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Muslim world has strongly condemned the burning of the Quran in front of Turkish embassy in Sweden’s Stockholm.
Far-right politician Rasmus Paludan set fire to a copy of the Holy Quran on Saturday in front of Turkey’s embassy in the Swedish capital.
The Swedish defense minister’s visit to Turkey was cancelled on Saturday due to the protest. Turkish officials also denounced the approval given to right-wing Swedish-Danish lawmaker Rasmus Paludan to hold a rally on Saturday in front of Turkey’s embassy in the Swedish capital.
In order to “condemn this provocative behavior, which is clearly a hate crime — in strongest terms,” Turkey had previously called Sweden’s envoy to Ankara on Saturday, a diplomatic source claimed. Additionally, it called on Sweden to take the required legal action against the offenders and asked all nations to take effective action against Islamophobia.
Many Muslim countries said they were outraged by the burning of the Holy Quran on Saturday.
Morocco said it was “astonished” the authorities had allowed it to take place “in front of the Swedish forces of order”.
Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also condemned it, as did the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Who is Rasmus Paludan?
Danish-Swedish politician and far-right extremist Rasmus Paludan is the leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party in Denmark.
In numerous of his events, the Quran was set on fire, which sparked violent counterprotests and the burning of vehicles. He set the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s effigy on fire in Stockholm last week.
According to the police permission he was issued, his protest was held in opposition to Islam and what it said was Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s intention to restrict free speech in Sweden.
In April of last year, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Paludan declared he would embark on a “Quran burning tour” and began setting fire to the holy book in locations with a predominance of Muslim residents.
Earlier in 2020, Paludan was convicted and jailed for a month for posting anti-Islam videos on his party’s social media channels.
Paludan was given a suspended jail term for racism in 2019 and the court heard that influenced the latest verdict.
He was charged with 14 offences, including racism, defamation, and reckless driving.
Paludan, 38, was given a one-year driving restriction in addition to a three-year criminal law bar suspension.
In the 2019 national elections, Stram Kurs received 1.8% of the vote, just shy of the 2% threshold required to enter parliament.
It ran on a platform of outlawing Islam and expelling all Muslims from Denmark. The Quran has been burned during Paludan’s demonstrations in places with ethnic minority populations.
