A diplomatic fight breaks out between Iraq and Sweden after a man desecrates the Quran

By ALI JABAR, ABBY SEWELL and DAVID KEYTON
Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister has ordered the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d’affaires from Sweden after a man desecrated a copy of the Quran in Stockholm with the permission of the Swedish authorities. The diplomatic blowup comes hours after protesters angered by a planned burning of a copy of the Islamic holy book stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad early Thursday, breaking into the compound and lighting a small fire. In Stockholm, two men held an anti-Islam protest on a lawn not far from the Iraqi Embassy. One of them, identified by Swedish media as an Iraqi Christian living in Sweden, stepped on and kicked the Quran but did not set it on fire.