News / Politics

Iran summons Norwegian charges d'affaires over Quran desecration

Tuesday, 26 November 2019 5:44 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 26 November 2019 6:10 PM ]

The file photo shows a view of the Iranian Foreign Ministry building in Tehran.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says it has summoned Norway’s charge d’affaires to Tehran to strongly protest the recent burning of the Holy Quran by head of an extremist Norwegian group, a move that sparked an outcry in the global Muslim community.

Director of the North European Affairs of the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Norwegian envoy, in the absence of the country’s ambassador, to convey the Islamic Republic’s strong objection to the hideous move in the European country and warned of the dangerous consequences of such acts, which could spread extremism and violence.

In derogatory acts on Sunday, members of the “Stop Norway’s Islamization” (SIAN) in Kristiansand city insulted two copies of the Holy Quran, while Lars Torrens, head of the anti-Islam organization, burned another copy.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry official said the hateful act hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the world and added, “One cannot insult the beliefs and sanctities of more than 1.5 billion Muslims in the world under the pretext of freedom of expression.”

He urged the Norwegian government to prevent the recurrence of such seditious acts.

The Norwegian charge d’affaires, for his turn, said he would convey Iran’s protest to the Oslo government and added that his country utterly rejects the move.

Oslo’s principled policy is to support freedom of expression and opinion and to prevent disseminating hate speech, the envoy said, adding that the Norwegian government is committed to protecting the safety of Muslims living in the country and preventing extremist and divisive measures.

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