OIC suspends Sweden’s special envoy status

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has decided to suspend the status of the special envoy of Sweden to the OIC in protest against recent incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran in the Scandinavian country.

The OIC General Secretariat took the decision on Sunday in line with the recommendations of the final communique, issued by the OIC Executive Committee’s extraordinary meeting held on July 2.

The meeting had asked the OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha to consider possible steps to review the official framework linking the general secretariat to any country in which copies of the Holy Quran or other Islamic values and symbols are desecrated with the consent of the authorities concerned, including suspending the status of the special envoy.

The secretary-general conveyed this decision in a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the secretary-general also welcomed the measures taken by some member states to protest against the repeated attacks on Islamic sanctities.

He called on all member states to take the sovereign decisions they deem appropriate to express their position condemning the grant of licences by the Swedish authorities that enabled the repeated abuse of the sanctity of the Holy Quran and Islamic symbols, and to express the OIC states’ rejection of such disgraceful acts under the pretext of freedom of expression.

“The secretary-general stressed the importance of taking the necessary legislative measures to criminalize such attacks, bearing in mind that the exercise of freedom of expression entailed special duties and responsibilities,” it said.

Read Limited political support in Sweden to ban Holy Quran burnings

He also emphasized that acts of desecration of copies of the Holy Quran and insulting the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Islamic symbols, were not just ordinary Islamophobia incidents.

Furthermore, he exhorted the international community to urgently implement international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred.

He pointed out the importance of adhering to the provisions of the resolution adopted recently by the UN Human Rights Council regarding "combating religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence."

According to the statement, the OIC General Secretariat is preparing to hold an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers as soon as possible to continue deliberating on this issue and to take the decisions it deems appropriate.

On 28 June, a 37-year-old Iraqi refugee ripped out and set fire to pages of the Holy Quran during a police-protected protest outside the Stockholm Mosque in Sweden, resulting in counter-protests throughout the Muslim world.

On 20 July, he desecrated the Holy Quran again in Stockholm, resulting in protests and attacks, including arson, against the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, starting a day before.

Iraq also severed all diplomatic and business ties and connections with Sweden in response to the incident. On 22 July, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Sweden had "gone into battle-array for war on the Muslim world".