Sweden Moves Iraq Embassy Operations To Stockholm
On Friday, Sweden's foreign ministry announced that expatriate staff and operations at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad had been temporarily relocated to Stockholm for security reasons.
Facts
- On Friday, Sweden's foreign ministry announced that expatriate staff and operations at the Swedish embassy in Baghdad had been temporarily relocated to Stockholm for security reasons.1
- This comes a day after hundreds of Iraqis stormed the building and set it on fire in protest of Sweden's alleged consent to Quran burnings as another such demonstration was authorized outside the Iraqi embassy.2
- Though the Iraqi government condemned the attack on the compound, reportedly taking 20 people into custody, PM Mohammed Sudani asked the Swedish ambassador to leave the country.3
- Diplomatic relations between Baghdad and Stockholm are at an all-time low, with Sweden facing mounting tensions as burning the religious book is protected under Sweden's freedom of expression laws.4
- While the Sweden-based Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, who last month burned pages of the Muslim holy text outside Stockholm's main mosque, fell short of burning it again on Thursday, his latest protest sparked outrage across the Muslim world.5
- Meanwhile, Swedish telecom gear company Ericsson is looking into reports that Baghdad has suspended its staff's work permit in Iraq — a claim that Sudani's adviser denied on Friday.6
Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2ITN, 3BBC News, 4Euractiv, 5France 24, and 6Reuters.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by Humanisten. The attack against the Swedish embassy in Iraq wasn't carried out by ordinary citizens but rather by oppressive Islamic regimes seeking to expand their tentacles to silence dissent abroad. Western secular governments must stand firm in protecting free speech, regardless of how contemptible the ideas and actions are.
- Narrative B, as provided by Middle East Eye. It's quite hypocritical that free speech has been used as an excuse for allowing religious hatred toward Muslims while their right to free expression has been increasingly under threat. By engaging in hateful acts such as burning or tearing apart pages of the Quran, Islamophobes are purely calling for violence against Muslims — which is completely unacceptable in a fair society.
