Swedish media reported that the Swedish Migration Agency is reevaluating the residence permit granted to an Iraqi refugee who was behind several incidents of Quran desecration in Stockholm in recent weeks, which sparked outrage among Muslims worldwide.
According to the Swedish news agency (TT), the man holds a temporary residence permit in Sweden, set to expire in 2024, but the agency is now reconsidering his situation. The Migration Agency indicated that information received from Swedish authorities justified evaluating whether the man’s status in Sweden should be revoked.
Last month, the man burned a copy of the Quran in front of the main mosque in Stockholm. He also staged a demonstration outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm in July, where he claimed he would burn another copy of the Quran, although he did not do so.
In recent weeks, Sweden found itself in the spotlight for international attention after incidents of desecrating and burning copies of the Quran. Such acts in Sweden and Denmark have offended many Islamic countries, including Turkey, whose support Sweden needs to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—a goal Stockholm is pursuing following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In addition to requests to burn the Quran, there have also been multiple requests to burn other religious texts, such as the New Testament and the Old Testament, leading many to criticize Sweden. Swedish courts have ruled that police cannot prevent the burning of sacred books, but the government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated earlier in July that it would consider whether there is a reason to amend public order laws to allow the police to prevent the burning of the Quran.
