OIC foreign ministers to meet over Qur’an desecration in Sweden, Denmark

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers on Monday, July 31 to discuss the desecration and burning of copies of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden and Denmark.

The meeting has been called at the request of Saudi Arabia, the chairman of the 14th Islamic Summit, and the Republic of Iraq, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

It comes in implementation of the final statement issued by the extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee, held at the OIC General Secretariat’s headquarters in Jeddah on July 2, to take collective measures to prevent the recurrence of desecration of copies of the Qur’an in Sweden.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha called on member states for unified measures against these insulting acts against the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad.

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Egypt summons Danish ambassador

Egypt summoned Denmark’s ambassador on Thursday over recent Qur’an burning incidents, the foreign ministry said.

Five anti-Islam activists set fire to a Qur’an in front of the Egyptian embassy in Copenhagen on Tuesday, the third such incident in Denmark in less than a week, following Qur’an burning in nearby Sweden that enraged Muslims.

Egypt called “for the authorities in Denmark, and other countries that have witnessed similar events, to take concrete actions to stop these unfortunate incidents once and for all,” the ministry said.

Swedish state doesn’t condone Qur’an burnings – FM

The Swedish state does not sanction or condone Qur’an burnings but they are permitted by Swedish freedom of speech laws, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Thursday.

“In some countries there is a perception that the Swedish state is behind or condone this. We don’t,” Billstrom told reporters.

“These are acts committed by individuals, but they do it within the framework of freedom of speech laws,” he said.

Billstrom said he had been in touch with the foreign ministers of Iran, Iraq, Algeria and Lebanon among others as well as the United Nations secretary-general.(Reuters, Arab News)