BAGHDAD: The Iraqi prime minister ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d’affaires from Sweden on Thursday over a man’s desecration of a copy of the Holy Quran in Stockholm.

This diplomatic bombing came hours after protesters were angry over a plan to burn a copy of the Qur’an, storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, storm the compound and start a small fire.

The Swedish Embassy announced that it was closed to visitors. The Sudanese Shiite prime minister said that the Iraqi authorities would also prosecute the perpetrators of the arson, pointing to the “negligence of security officials” to investigate them.

The man kicked and stood on the Koran during his protest in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm while the Swedish police stood by.

Sloane Momica, 37, who fled Iraq to Sweden several years ago, said he wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of expression when he staged his controversial protest on June 28, lighting a copy of the Quran.

Supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the rally on Thursday to protest a second Quran burning planned in Sweden within weeks, according to posts in a popular Telegram group that linked the influential cleric to pro-Sadr media.

Al-Sadr, one of Iraq’s most powerful figures, sometimes leads the hundreds of thousands of followers he has called into the streets, including last summer when they occupied Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone and bloody clashes.

Swedish news agency TT reported on Wednesday that Swedish police had approved a request for a public meeting outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday.

The application says the applicant seeks to burn the Koran and the Iraqi flag, TT reports.

A series of videos posted to the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showed people gathering around the embassy around 1 a.m. Thursday (2200 GMT Wednesday) shouting pro-Sadr slogans and storming the embassy compound about an hour later.

Videos showed dozens of men climbing over a fence in the compound, the sound of which was trying to break down a front door. Another showed what appeared to be a small fire being lit. Other footage showed men, some shirtless in the summer heat, inside what appeared to be a room in the embassy, ​​with an audible alarm in the background.

Others performed dawn prayers later outside the embassy.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the attack.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The Iraqi government directed the competent security authorities to conduct an urgent investigation and take the necessary security measures to uncover the circumstances of the incident, identify the perpetrators of this act, and hold them accountable according to the law.”
The Iraqi police and state media did not immediately acknowledge the attack.

“We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff of international organisations,” Sweden’s Foreign Ministry in Stockholm said in a separate statement.

The demonstrations began after a man, under police protection, planned to burn a copy of the Koran and the Torah, the Jewish holy book, outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm. However, the man reportedly abandoned his plan amid widespread anger.

The right to hold public demonstrations is strong in Sweden and is protected by the constitution. Blasphemy laws were abandoned in the 1970s.

For Muslims, the burning of the Qur’an represents a blasphemous desecration of the sacred text of their religion. Burning of the Koran in the past has sparked protests across the Muslim world, some of which have turned violent. In Afghanistan, the Taliban stopped all activities of Swedish organizations in the country in response to the recent burning of the Quran.

Last month, an Iraqi Christian immigrant burned a Koran in front of a Stockholm mosque during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, sparking widespread condemnation in the Muslim world. A far-right activist staged a similar protest outside Turkey’s embassy earlier this year, complicating Sweden’s efforts to persuade Turkey to allow it to join NATO.

In June, protesters stormed the embassy in Baghdad during daylight hours to protest the burning of the Koran. Another day of protests saw thousands of demonstrators take to the streets of the country. Then the demonstrators, as well as in the early hours of Thursday morning, called on Iraqi officials to expel Sweden’s ambassador to Iraq.

Sadr called late last month for protests against Sweden and expelled the Swedish ambassador after an Iraqi man burned a Koran in front of a mosque in Stockholm.

Two large demonstrations took place outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in the wake of the burning of the Quran, with protesters breaching the embassy building on one occasion but not entering the embassy building itself.

The governments of several Muslim countries, including Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco, issued protests over the incident.

The United States also condemned it, but added that the issuance of the permit supports freedom of expression and does not represent an endorsement of the measure.

With agencies