GENEVA: UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent session to address burning of Quran following an incident in Stockholm that sparked global outrage, spokesman said.

A Quran was burnt outside Swedish capital’s main masjid on Wednesday, triggering diplomatic backlash across Muslim world. Salwan Momika (37) who fled from Iraq to Sweden several years ago stomped on Muslim holy book and set several pages alight as Muslims around world began marking Eid al-Adha holiday and as annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia was drawing to close. Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, which is meeting in session until July 14 will change its agenda to stage an urgent debate, following request from Pakistan.

“UN Human Rights Council will hold an urgent debate to ‘discuss alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred, as manifested by current desecration of the holy Quran in some European and other countries’,” council spokesman Pascal Sim told reporters, citing wording of request.

Published in The Daily National Courier, July, 05 2023

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