(AFP) Baghdad has asked Sweden to extradite Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, who stoked international outrage by desecrating the Koran, he and his lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.
“Iraq wants him extradited because he burnt a Koran outside the mosque (in Stockholm) in June,” lawyer David Hall told AFP after Swedish police questioned Momika in connection with the extradition request.
“To be extradited to another country, the law (in Sweden) dictates that the crime has to be a crime in both Sweden and Iraq,” Hall said.
Burning Islam’s holy book “is not a crime in Sweden, so it’s not possible for Sweden to extradite him.”
The Swedish government has condemned the desecrations of the Koran but upheld the country’s laws regarding freedom of speech and assembly.
