Quran Burning Row: Iraq Expels Sweden Envoy, Protesters Torch Baghdad Swedish Embassy, Says Report

Iraq has also recalled its charge d'affaires in Sweden and suspended working permits for Swedish businesses such as telecom giant Ericsson.

Followers of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr storm the Swedish Embassy as they protest against the act of Quran burning in Baghdad, Iraq on July 20, 2023.

The diplomatic dispute between Iraq and Sweden escalated on Thursday after the Iraqi government expelled the Swedish ambassador over the recent burning of Quran in Stockholm, Reuters reported. Iraq has also recalled its charge d'affaires in Sweden.

Iraq has suspended working permits for Swedish businesses such as telecom giant Ericsson on a day protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in the capital Baghdad and torched the compound ahead of a planned burning of Quran in Sweden.

Foreign minister of Sweden Tobias Billstrom said the storming of the embassy was "completely unacceptable and the government strongly condemns these attacks". "The government is in contact with high-level Iraqi representatives to express our dismay," Reuters quoted Billstrom as saying.

On Thursday, hundreds of people barged into the embassy after news spread that an Iraqi Christian refugee had been given permission by Swedish police to burn a Quran in Stockholm for a second time. The person, Salwan Momika, had burnt the holy text outside a Stockholm mosque in June. 

The anti-Islam protesters kicked and partially destroyed a book they claimed was the Quran but left the area after an hour without setting it on fire. 

The Swedish Foreign Minister said staff at the embassy were safe but Iraqi authorities had failed in their responsibility to protect the embassy.

"Iraqi authorities have an unequivocal obligation to protect diplomatic missions and personnel under the Vienna Convention," he said.

The Iraq government strongly condemned the attack on the Swedish embassy and said that 20 people were taken into custody, BBC reported.

Late on Thursday, Iraq Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani released a statement asking Iraq's Swedish ambassador to leave the country.

The prime minister's office said the move was in response to what it called Sweden's "repeated permission for the burning of the Quran" and Iraqi flag as well as insults to Islamic sanctities, BBC reported.