Inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Indonesia strongly condemns the provocative act of burning the Quran in front of the Sodermalm Grand Mosque in Stockholm, Sweden, during the celebration of Eid al-Adha.

"This abhorrent action inflicts deep emotional distress upon the Muslim community and lacks any justification," stated The Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Twitter on Thursday (June 29, 2023).

Indonesia strongly emphasizes that the principle of freedom of expression must always uphold and respect the values and beliefs of all religions. In unity with other member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Sweden, Indonesia has formally lodged a protest against this reprehensible incident.

The burning of the Quran has once again occurred in Sweden, this time carried out by an Iraqi citizen named Salwan Momika. He purposefully tore and incinerated several pages of Quranic texts, using this act as a means to criticize Islam while proclaiming his own secular atheism on social media platforms.

He openly praised the actions of Rasmus Paludan, a right-wing Swedish politician who had previously committed similar acts of burning the sacred Islamic scripture.

Justifying his actions, he claimed that Islam poses a threat to Swedish values. In response to the Quran burning, Swedish authorities have initiated an investigation into hate speech, suspecting a case of Islamophobia.

The Swedish police had initially rejected prior requests pertaining to Quran burning incidents outside the Swedish Embassy in Turkey and Iraq. However, these decisions were later overturned by the court.

Consequently, in light of the prevailing circumstances, the Swedish police are unable to prevent today's planned Quran burning by the activist.

(ndt/hn/um)