Swedish embassy in Baghdad torched over another Qur’an burning plan

News Network

July 20, 2023

Baghdad, July 20: Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have stormed the Swedish embassy in the capital Baghdad and set part of it on fire in protest against the second planned desecration of the Holy Qur’an in Sweden.

The angry protesters, who were reportedly the supporters of prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, stormed the main gates of the embassy building on Thursday, holding up copies of the Qur’an and chanting pro-Sadr slogans.

“We are mobilized today to denounce the burning of the Qur’an, which is all about love and faith,” a protester told AFP. “We demand that the Swedish government and the Iraqi government stop this type of initiative.”

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry condemned the torching of the Swedish embassy building In a statement, saying the Iraqi government had instructed security forces to carry out a swift investigation, identify the perpetrators and hold them to account.

Following the incident, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry announced that its embassy staff in Baghdad are “safe”.

The ministry further said Iraqi authorities have the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and staff, adding that attacks on embassies and diplomats “constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention.”

The development comes as Swedish authorities have approved an assembly to be held later in the day outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, where organizers plan to burn a copy of Muslims’ holy book as well as the Iraqi flag.

Two people are set to participate in the demonstration, Swedish media reported on Wednesday, adding that one of them is the same person who set a Qur’an on fire outside a Stockholm mosque in June.

On June 28, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi immigrant stomped on the Qur’an before setting several pages alight in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque. The insult to the Muslim holy book was made under the authorization and protection of the Swedish police.

The incident, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, drew the anger of Muslims from across the world.

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Israel killing Palestinian children in Gaza every day despite ceasefire: UNICEF

News Network

November 22,2025

The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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