KIGALI, Rwanda
The African Union chair on Sunday added his voice in condemnation of the burning of a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, by a Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist in the Swedish capital Stockholm.
Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party, under the protection of police and with permission from the government, burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Saturday, prompting wide condemnation from the Arab and Islamic worlds.
“I strongly condemn the heinous act of the Swedish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan who burned a copy of the Holy Quran,” Macky Sall, who is also the Senegalese president, said on Twitter.
“Islamophobia and hatred of Muslims are abominable and must be fought without concession,” Sall added.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has described the Quran burning as a provocative action that “targets Muslims, insults their sacred values, and serves as a further example of the alarming level reached by Islamophobia” and asked Sweden to punish those behind a “hate crime.”
