TEHRAN, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned Jesper Vahr, the ambassador of Denmark to Iran, to protest against the recent "insult" to the Muslim holy book Quran in the Scandinavian country, the official news agency IRNA reported.
During his meeting with Vahr, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, director general for Western Europe at Iran's Foreign Ministry, condemned any "affront" to Islamic sanctities, saying the Quran burning in Europe is the "greatest threat" to freedom of thought, said the report.
He slammed European governments for their inaction on those acts, saying remaining silent in the face of such "heinous crimes" will lead to "violence and the promotion of terrorism."
The Iranian diplomat said both the perpetrators and the governments that authorized such acts through their inaction should be held accountable.
Nili Ahmadabadi called on the Danish government to implement necessary "deterrent" measures, arrest the "wrongdoers" and give them the "harshest" punishment.
Vahr, for his part, stressed that Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has explicitly condemned affronting the Quran as a "horrendous" act, adding that he would convey Iran's protest to his government as soon as possible.
A copy of the Quran was burned by an Islamophobic group called Danske Patrioter in front of Iraq's embassy in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
The group's members also carried a banner with insulting slogans against Islam, before stomping on the Iraqi flag and a copy of the Quran.
They said they made the move to protest against the Iraqis' attack on the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday.
Hundreds of angry protestors stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on Thursday and set fire to the building in protest against the burning of the Quran and the Iraqi flag in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. ■
