Human Rights

Tehran, IRNA – An informed source has said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not going to send a new ambassador to Sweden due to the sacrilege of the Holy Quran in the European country.

The informed source at Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IRNA on Sunday that despite the fact that administrative procedures for sending a new Iranian ambassador to Sweden have been finished, as a result of the recent insult to the holy Quran in the Swedish capital city Stockholm, the ministry will not send a new envoy for now.

01 July 2023; AA: Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) head coach Christophe Galtier was reportedly placed in police custody on Friday following allegations of making racist remarks against Black and Muslim players during his time at OGC Nice, his former club.

French daily Le Parisien reported that Galtier, 56, was held by the Nice police to provide a statement regarding the alleged remarks made during his tenure in 2021.

02 July 2023; MEMO: The EU on Saturday said burning a copy of the Quran or any other holy book "is offensive, and disrespectful and a clear act of provocation", Anadolu reports.

The remarks came after a person identified as Salwan Momika burned a copy of the Muslim holy book under police protection in front of a Stockholm mosque on Wednesday.

The desecration was timed to coincide with Eid al-Adha, one of the major Islamic religious festivals celebrated by Muslims worldwide.

30 June 2023; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday slammed Sweden after it allowed a copy of the Quran to be burnt in Stockholm and said Ankara would never bow down to a policy of provocation or threat, Reuters reported.

"We will teach the arrogant Western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims," he told party members on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

30 June 2023; MEMO: Iran has summoned the Swedish chargé d'affaires to protest against the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, state media reported, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Swedish envoy was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, and urged to prevent insults to the moral and religious values ​​of Muslims on Thursday, according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency.

30 June 2023; MEMO: The mother of a 17-year-old delivery driver who was shot and killed by a police officer earlier this week during a traffic check in a Paris suburb said, Thursday, that she believes her son's death was driven by racial motivations, Anadolu Agency reports.

Nahel M.'s mother, Mounia, said during an interview broadcast on the France 5 TV channel that the police officer "saw the face of an Arab, a little kid" and "wanted to take his life".

30 June 2023; MEMO: The UN Human Rights office has updated a list of companies doing business with illegal Israeli settlements, removing 15 companies from the database that were no longer involved, a spokesperson said on Friday, Reuters reports.

30 June 2023; MEMO: An Israeli court in occupied Jerusalem yesterday froze a military order to dismantle a new illegal West Bank outpost set up last week near the illegal settlement of Eli.

Following the Israeli settlers' appeal to the District Court of Jerusalem, Israeli forces from the Civil Administration were sent to the site and stopped its preparation for evacuation and demolition.

30 June 2023; MEMO: Spain, on Friday, rejected the expansion of Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories and condemned violence by settlers, calling Tel Aviv's decision contrary to international law and an impediment to peace, Anadolu Agency reports.

"The Government of Spain rejects the measures approved this week on Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the West Bank and condemns the violence exercised by settlers," Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

01 July 2023; MEMO: Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia in Jerusalem Archbishop Atallah Hanna stressed: "It is painful and shameful nowadays for someone to burn the Qur'an in Sweden and to believe that this is heroism and freedom of expression. It is also unfortunate that the Sw