Lebanon Suspends Cultural Ties with Sweden, Denmark over Quran Desecrations

BEIRUT (IQNA) – The culture minister of Lebanon said the Arab country has suspended its cultural relations with Sweden and Denmark in protest at Quran desecrations in the two European countries.

Culture Minister Mohammad Wissam al-Mortada said the suspension includes all cultural cooperation, including those with the embassies of the two countries in Beirut.

He added that it will continue until Stockholm and Copenhagen correct their stance, Al-Ahed News reported.  

Mortada also sent separate messages to his Swedish and Danish counterparts, Parisa Liljestrand and Jakob Engel-Schmidt, in which he strongly condemned the repetition of defiling the Quran in those countries.

He stressed that without permission from the Stockholm and Copenhagen governments, the heinous acts of Quran desecration would not have happened.

In recent weeks, Quran desecrations in Sweden and Denmark with government permission and police protection have drawn widespread anger and condemnations from the Muslim world.

The Nordic countries allow the blasphemies to happen under the guise of the so-called freedom of speech despite wide condemnations from Muslim and non-Muslim states and even in the face of a UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted earlier this month.

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