Sweden's migration agency has expelled an Iraqi who burned the Koran in Stockholm in recent months, Swedish television TV4 said on Thursday, sparking widespread anger in Muslim countries.
The television quoted the agency as saying that it decided to expel the person from Sweden, noting that as a result of the complications of implementing the decision, it granted him a limited residence permit for the period from October 25, 2023 to April 16, 2024.
Iraqi refugee Silwan Mumika, who lives in the capital, Stockholm, burned a copy of the Koran earlier in front of the main mosque in Stockholm, and also staged a demonstration in front of the Iraqi embassy in which he said he would burn a copy of the Quran, but did not do so.
Momika has sparked outrage in many countries in the Middle East and the Muslim world since he began making moves to burn the Koran in June.
Recently, in Sweden and Denmark, there have been repeated incidents of tearing and burning copies of the Holy Quran by right-wing extremists in front of embassies of Muslim countries.
This was met with a series of protest movements that culminated in protesters setting fire to the Swedish embassy building in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Several countries summoned Sweden's envoys to inform them of official protests, while the United Nations adopted a resolution condemning all attacks on the holy books as a violation of international law.