A senior Iranian human rights official has alleged Sweden is morphing into a prison for Muslims with the support of its government.
In a post on his twitter page on Tuesday, Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior Judiciary official and secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, claimed there is religious intolerance in Europe, particularly in Sweden.
Noting that “Religious intolerance is raging across Europe”, he said, “Sacrilege to religious sanctities is under no circumstances whatsoever acceptable”.
“Seems they’ve missed Medieval Inquisition!”, he quipped.
The Islamic Republic has been long accused by United Nations experts and human rights organizations of persecuting religious minorities.
On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summonedthe Swedish chargé d'affaires to protest the burning of a Quran in Sweden by Rasmus Paludan, the leader of Danish far-right political party Stram Kurs (Hard Line).
Paludan went to an open public space in a heavily Muslim-populated neighborhood on Thursday, put the Quran down on the ground and burned it while ignoring protests from onlookers.
Since Thursday, several cities across Sweden, such as the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby as well as in the cities -- were scenes of riots by Muslims and violent clashes, with social media videos showing young men smashing windows of police cars and setting them on fire.
Several people from pro-Paludan protesters and counter-protesters as well as police forces have been injured and dozens of arrests were made by the Swedish police that seems to be struggling to control the unrest.