Iraq orders the expulsion of Sweden’s ambassador as a man desecrated the Quran in Stockholm

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 on Thursday after a man desecrated of a copy of the Quran in Stockholm with permission from Swedish authorities. The diplomatic blowup comes hours after protesters angered by the 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 about 100 meters from the Iraqi Embassy. One of them, identified by Swedish media as Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian living in Sweden, stepped on and kicked the Quran but did not set it on fire.