Global Courant
ANKARA
The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement condemned the burning of the Quran, the holy book of Muslims, in front of a mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Wednesday.
“The burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden on the first day of Eid al-Adha is a provocation to the feelings of Muslims around the world and an attack on their faith,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas leader.
The provocative act of the extremist was deliberately planned to coincide with the celebration of Eid-al-Adha, one of the largest Islamic religious holidays by Muslims around the world.
Abu Zuhri called for an end to such “hostile acts”.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned “the crime of burning and desecration of a copy of the holy Quran by an extremist in Stockholm”.
Jordan also condemned the Swedish extremist’s action, describing it as “provocative and racist”.
In a statement, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the act of burning the Qur’an cannot be a form of freedom of expression and underlined that such “irresponsible behavior and actions” should be stopped.
The incident was strongly condemned by Turkey as well.
“I condemn the despicable act against our holy book, the Quran, in Sweden on the first day of Eid-al-Adha!” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Twitter.
Earlier on Wednesday, a person identified as Salwan Momika burned a Quran under police protection in front of the Stockholm Mosque.
On June 12, a Swedish appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision to lift the ban on Quran burning and ruled that police had no legal basis to block two Quran burning protests earlier this year.
Only some of the news presented to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS) and in summary form are available on the Anadolu Agency website. Please contact us for subscription options.
