Emboldened by Sweden's approval, extremist plans to burn Iraqi flag, Quran

The extremist who burned pages of the Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm, sparking protests and a wave of condemnations across the Muslim world, has told Swedish media that he plans to burn a copy of Quran again and an Iraqi flag "within10 days."

Speaking to a local newspaper Expressen on Thursday, the Sweden-based Iraqi-origin extremist said he knew his action on Wednesday would provoke reactions and alleged he had received "thousands of death threats" without providing any evidence.

"Within 10 days, I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of Iraq's Embassy in Stockholm," he said of another provocation.

It comes as scores of Iraqi protesters stormed the yard of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad to express their outrage and Baghdad demanded that Stockholm hand over the extremist so he could be tried in accordance with Iraqi law.

The extremist appears to have been encouraged by Sweden’s decision to authorise the sacrilege of the holy book under the guise of "freedom of expression."

After being granted a permit to desecrate Quran by Swedish police, the extremist stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capital's largest mosque.

The despicable act, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across and beyond the Middle East and South Asia.

Turkish-led global fury

The global fury, led by Türkiye and also joined by Russia and US, forced Sweden to launch an investigation against the extremist who denied that his actions constituted a "hate crime" or "agitation towards any group".

"The police have the right to investigate whether the burning is a hate crime. They could be right and they can be wrong," he told the newspaper, adding that it would be up to a court to decide in the end.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan again denounced Sweden for allowing the desecration, further clouding the Nordic nation's chances of quickly joining NATO.

"We will eventually teach the arrogant Westerners that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought," Erdogan said in televised remarks.

"We will show our reaction in the strongest possible terms, until a determined victory against terrorist organisations and Islamophobia is achieved."

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation said it would hold an "emergency meeting" to discuss the situation.

An OIC official said the talks would most probably be held on Sunday in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.