Foreign Ministry summons Swedish charge d'affairs in Cairo over repeated desecration of Quran

CAIRO – 25 July 2023: Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said Tuesday that the Swedish charge d'affairs in Cairo to inform him of Egypt's strong condemnation and its full rejection, both the government and people, of the repeated insults to the holy Quran in Sweden.

The spokesperson pointed out that this action was made upon directions from Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs Ehab Nasr summoned the Swedish charge d'affairs to the Foreign Ministry premises.

During the meeting, Nasr asserted that Egypt has previously warned of the serious repercussions and the negative impact of such actions, in addition to growth in the phenomenon of Islamophobia, inciting hatred speech, extremism and thoughts that lead to destroying the interaction among civilizations and peoples of the world.

Ambassador Nasr also reaffirmed Egypt's firm rejection of all forms of religious hatred and insults to religious believers as such actions do not represent a form of freedom of expression which guarantee not insults to others' beliefs or their sanctities.

Earlier in the month, the Foreign Ministry released a statement in which it reaffirmed the negative impact of such regretful acts.

Also, Ambassador Abu Zeid noted that that the assistant foreign minister also affirmed the necessity that Swedish authorities and other countries should take the appropriate actions to prevent the recurrence of such actions and hold accountable those involved in them in a bid to maintain the principles of tolerance, peaceful coexistence, acceptance to others and dialogue along with enhancing the friendly and civilized relations among world countries and peoples.