In Tehran, hundreds of demonstrators waved Iranian flags and copies of the Koran and chanted “Down with the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and Sweden,” while some set fire to the blue and yellow Swedish flag.
“Yes, yes to Islam,” “yes, yes, to the Koran” and “yes, yes, Iraq,” chanted “yes, yes to Islam” as worshipers gathered Friday on a broad avenue in the impoverished district of Madinet Sadr, shielded from the crushing sun by a sea of umbrellas in the Iraqi capital.
Demonstrators set fire to rainbow flags, which Moqtada Sadr saw as a way to anger Westerners and denounced the “double standard”, which includes protecting the LGBT+ minority but allowing desecration of the Koran.
“Through this demonstration, we want to send our voice to the UN to seek punishment for insulting the holy books of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
Stockholm was the scene of two Koran desecrations organized by Iraqi refugees in late June and then on July 20. On Thursday, instead of setting fire to a copy of the book as he had announced, he stomped on it several times and tore it to pieces. Swedish police allowed the rally in the name of freedom of assembly, which is not the same as condoning what happens there.
A diplomatic crisis
These initiatives have caused a serious diplomatic crisis between Sweden and Iraq, which accuses Swedish authorities of approving such events. On two occasions supporters of Moqtada Sadr occupied the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, which was set on fire before dawn on Thursday. On Thursday, the Iraqi government ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador and the recall of his superiors.
France and the US “condemned” the attack on the Swedish embassy, while Washington found it “unacceptable that Iraqi security forces did not act to prevent the entry of demonstrators”. Madinet Sadr Sabbah al-Tai, 45, who said he took part in the latest attack on the Swedish embassy on Friday, insisted that “the expulsion of the ambassador is small, we want more.”
A follower of explosions, Moqtada Sadr has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to mobilize thousands of demonstrators on the streets of Iraq. In the summer of 2022, his supporters occupied the parliament in Baghdad and staged a sit-in. Moqdada Sadr was then at loggerheads with an opposing political camp over the appointment of a prime minister. A face-off that degenerated into a deadly clash with the army in the heart of Baghdad and former pro-Iranian militias of the Hachh al-Saabi.
With the Swedish file, Moqtada Sadr sends messages to his public and “warnings” to “political enemies”: “+ I have retained the same strength and I can return at any time +,” believes political scientist Ali al-Baydar. He underlined that his present “must be seen as the shepherd of the religious file in Iraq” and presented the issue “at an international level”.
“How this is going to be exploited politically, or instrumentalized for electoral purposes, depends on Sadr’s will,” he added, referring to the crucial election of provincial councils scheduled for December.
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