Iran on Tuesday urged the officials of Sweden and other European states to take “immediate and effective” measures against the perpetrators of burning the Quran to prevent its recurrence in the future.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian issued the call in an address to an urgent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva to discuss the recent Quran burning in Sweden, the official news agency IRNA reported.
He said any “hesitation or delay” in condemning the “sacrilegious” moves against the Quran is indicative of the “double standards and justification of abuse of freedom of expression.”
The recent “desecration” of the Quran, which was the sixth case in European states this year, explicitly “provokes violence, hatred and hostility against Muslims and is tantamount to discrimination against them,” Amir-Abdollahian added.
In Stockholm late last month, a Swedish citizen of Iraqi origin burned a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque during a demonstration authorized by the Swedish authorities, sparking furious reactions from Muslims across the world.