In the wake of the controversial Quran desecration incident in Stockholm, the call for action from Muslim nations has reached a fervent pitch. Maulana Fazl, a prominent radical Islamic leader, urged all Muslim countries, including Pakistan, to recall their ambassadors from Sweden in response to the burning of the Quran. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and JUI-F chairman echoed the sentiment, demanding “strict action” from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) against those responsible.
The situation was further exacerbated by Iraq’s recent decision to expel the Swedish ambassador, following protests that saw the Swedish embassy stormed and set ablaze in Baghdad. Baghdad also recalled its charge d’affaires in Sweden and suspended the working permit of Sweden’s Ericsson on Iraqi soil, as a mark of solidarity.
Amid the escalating tensions, the OIC held a special session at its Jeddah headquarters to address the issue collectively. The incident, in which Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, set several pages of the Quran on fire.
Meanwhile, the Swedish government in a statement expressed understanding of the offense caused to Muslims by the acts of individuals during demonstrations, emphasizing that these actions did not reflect the views of the Swedish government.
However, in a issue of the journal Forensic Sciences Research, a paper on “Swedish rape offenders” was published in which they analyse the characteristics of individuals between 15-60 years old who were convicted of “rape+” against women in Sweden between 2000 and 2015.The researchers found that, within that time-frame, a total of 3,039 offenders were convicted of rape+ against a woman in Sweden — nearly all of whom (99.7%) were men. According to the researchers, Swedish-born offenders with Swedish-born parents accounted for 40.8% of the offenders. But, strikingly, almost half of the offenders were born outside of Sweden (47.7%). Of those foreign-born offenders, 34.5% were from the Middle East/North Africa, with 19.1% hailing from the rest of Africa. As a percentage of all convicted perpetrators, therefore, 16.4% were foreign-born individuals from the Middle East/North Africa, and 9.1% were foreign-born individuals from Africa (excluding North Africa).