Iraq Expels Swedish Ambassador Amid Protests Over Quran Desecration

BAGHDAD—Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador on Thursday, hours after crowds of angry Iraqis stormed the Swedish Embassy in central Baghdad, scaling its walls and setting it on fire in protest against the expected public desecration of a Quran in Stockholm.  

Iraq also recalled its chargé d’affaires from Stockholm, and the government suspended the license of Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to operate in the country. An Iraqi Shiite militia, Ashab al-Kahf, called on its supporters to attack Swedish interests in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani condemned the embassy attack but criticized Sweden for having allowed Quran burnings under the pretext of freedom of speech, saying that international norms emphasized respect for religion. “Such actions are deemed a threat to peace and encourage a culture of violence and hatred,” Sudani said.

The Iraqi government said its diplomatic actions were prompted by the Swedish government’s repeated permission for the burning of the Quran, insults against Islamic sanctity and the burning of the Iraqi flag. It came after hundreds of followers of populist Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gathered earlier Thursday by the Swedish Embassy, where some of them entered the compound around 2 a.m., according to footage shared on social media. Protesters vacated the compound after security forces arrived after dawn, but they continued to demonstrate outside.

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said all its staff members were safe. Sweden evacuated its personnel, as did Finland’s embassy, which shares the compound. 

The protests in Iraq erupted after Swedish police granted an application for a demonstration outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm on Thursday, which Swedish media said would involve two protesters burning a Quran and the Iraqi flag, possibly in response to anti-Sweden protests in Baghdad last month.

Following the protests in Baghdad, a demonstration took place in Sweden, with a demonstrator kicking a Quran into the air, albeit without burning it, according to footage shared on social media. The protest appeared to attract very few spectators. 

Sweden’s tolerance for Quran burnings has been a flashpoint in the Middle East for months, with Turkey using it as a cudgel to obstruct Stockholm’s bid for membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Sweden’s government has condemned the Quran burnings as anti-Muslim provocations, but said the country has a far-reaching freedom of expression.

“Desecration of the Quran, or any other holy scripture, is an offensive and disrespectful act, and a clear provocation,” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said Thursday. “The Swedish Government finds it highly regrettable that extremists and provocateurs are seeking to sow division between Muslims and non-Muslims.”  

Other Muslim countries have expressed anger at Sweden’s willingness to allow protests that include Quran burnings. Iran has said it would refrain from appointing an ambassador to Sweden because of the destruction of the sacred text. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Malaysia have all condemned the Quran burnings as hateful acts against Islam. 

The United Nations mission in Iraq condemned the embassy attack, but also labeled Quran burnings “hate speech”—which Sweden doesn’t—saying that fighting it with violence didn’t help anyone. 

Hate speech is criminalized in Sweden when it threatens or disrespects groups or individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexuality or faith, but Quran burnings are considered criticism of religion, which the country’s laws protect. 

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it was unacceptable that Iraqi security forces didn’t prevent the attack. 

“Freedom of peaceful assembly is an essential hallmark of democracy, but what occurred last night was an unlawful act of violence,” Miller said.

Billström condemned the embassy attack as completely unacceptable. “Iraqi authorities have an unequivocal obligation to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic personnel,” he said. “It is clear that Iraqi authorities seriously failed in this responsibility.” 

The Swedish government has summoned the Iraqi chargé d’affaires in Stockholm to “review what further measures need to be taken,” Billström said. 

Sudani’s office said the premier had summoned Iraq’s foreign and interior ministers and security chiefs to discuss the incident. It said that some perpetrators had been arrested and would be prosecuted, and that security officers who neglected their duties would be questioned.

Following the embassy attack, Sadr said Sweden had violated all diplomatic norms by allowing the flag burning, and accused Sweden of being an enemy of Islam. 

The raid Thursday on the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad was the second in less than a month, after thousands of followers of Sadr protested by the compound in late June following a Quran burning outside a mosque in Stockholm. Some of the protesters made it inside the compound, with others chanting supportive slogans of Sadr and burning rainbow-colored flags in an apparent insult to the LGBTQ community.

While all Iraqi political parties supported the administration’s decision to expel Sweden’s top diplomat, some of Sudani’s allies are concerned that one of Sadr’s goals in fomenting the protests in Baghdad is to weaken the government by highlighting its inability to maintain security.

In July 2022, hundreds of Sadr’s followers stormed the Iraqi parliament building in a similar show of strength after Sadr and his allies proved unable to assemble a government following an election victory the previous October. Sadr declared that he was exiting politics after the riots but has looked for ways to reassert his power since Sudani took office in October.

The Quran protests in Sweden initially appeared aimed at derailing the country’s application for NATO membership, and have drawn a tiny number of people. 

Swedish police earlier this year denied several applications for protests that included burning the Quran. Courts later overturned the police decisions, arguing that a rejection was in conflict with the country’s freedom-of-speech laws. 

A spokeswoman for Ericsson said the company, which has around 30 full-time employees in Iraq, is investigating local reports that their work permits have been revoked. The incidents involving the desecration of the Quran in Sweden didn’t reflect the company’s core value of respect, she added.

—David S. Cloud contributed to this article.

Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at [email protected]