20 July 2023 at 13:45 Iraq asks the Swedish ambassador to leave the country Iraq has asked Sweden’s ambassador to leave the country and calls home its own chargé d’affaires from Stockholm. The decision was made known on Thursday through an announcement from the office of Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, reproduced by several media, including the TV station Al Arabiya and the Reuters news agency. The background is Sweden’s decision to allow a commemoration outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on Thursday, where the burning of the Muslims’ holy book, the Koran, has been announced. When the planned Koran burning became known, protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday evening and set fire to the building. Sweden’s foreign minister Tobias Billström called the storming “unacceptable”, placed the responsibility on the Iraqi authorities and called the country’s chargé d’affaires onto the carpet to deliver a formal protest. The Iraqi government responded by threatening to break diplomatic relations if the announced Koran burning outside the country’s embassy was carried out. (NTB)
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