OIC seeks global action against Islamophobia

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday called for collective measures to avoid future desecration of the Holy Quran, just days after such an incident outside a mosque in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.

The 57-member body met at its Jeddah headquarters to respond to Wednesday’s incident in which an Iraqi refugee in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, committed the Islamophobic act. The incident coincided with the Eidul Adha in Europe.

On Sunday, the OIC urged member states to “take unified and collective measures to prevent the recurrence of incidents of desecration of the Quran”, according a statement released after the “extraordinary” meeting.

OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, “stressed the need to send a clear message that acts of desecration” of the Quran are “not mere ordinary Islamophobia incidents,” the statement added.

“We must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred.”

Taha condemned Momika’s “despicable act”, echoing widespread denunciations that have included demonstrations near the Swedish embassy in Iraq’s capital, while Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco summoned Swedish envoys in protest.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Twitter on Sunday his country would refrain from sending a new ambassador to Sweden, Hojjatollah Faghani, in protest against the Swedish government’s permission to Momika.

However, Sweden’s government condemned on Sunday the “Islamophobic” act outside Stockholm’s main mosque, “committed by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden [that] can be offensive to Muslims”.

Responding to the OIC call for collective measures to avoid future anti-Islamic acts, Sweden’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “We strongly condemn these acts, which in no way reflect the views of the Swedish government.”

The statement said it was “an offensive and disrespectful act and a clear provocation”, adding that expressions of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance had no place in Sweden or in Europe.

Swedish police had granted Momika a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over “agitation against an ethnic group,” noting that he committed the offence very close to the mosque.