The Swedish Migration Court approved the decision to deport Iraqi refugee Silwan Mumika, who burned copies of the Quran more than once in the capital, Stockholm, last year, and sparked a wave of anger in the Islamic world, but the Swedish authorities fear that he will be exposed to retaliation in Iraq, if he is deported.
Russia Today quoted Swedish Radio Ekot as saying that the Immigration Court “rejected Mumika’s appeal and approved the Migration Service’s decision to deport him from the country.”
The court explained that Mumika had provided false information regarding his residence permit application and therefore upheld the deportation decision.
However, the statements of the extremist “Mumika” sparked controversy in Sweden and abroad, on Thursday, February 8, in which he announced his challenge to the Swedish court’s decision to deport him outside the country.
Mumika, who last year burned copies of the Quran, which sparked widespread controversy, said in a post on the “X” platform that he will remain in Sweden despite the deportation decision, defying the Swedish Immigration Service and the court.”
He said in a comment: “I am staying in Sweden despite all of you, and I challenge the Swedish Immigration Service and the court,” adding: “If you can extradite me to Iraq, go on, otherwise I consider all your statements and decisions empty and meaningless.”
The Swedish authorities fear that if he is deported to Iraq, he will be subjected to ill-treatment and torture, and say that they will extradite him if the situation there changes.
The Immigration Service granted him a temporary residence permit that expires on April 24, at which time his file will be reexamined to determine his fate.
On June 28, Mumika burned a copy of the Quran under police protection, and similar incidents followed later.
The video clip sparked widespread anger across social networking sites in all Arab countries, and Twitter users denounced the authorities in Sweden allowing these actions, which they described as “extremist,” as they inflame the feelings of Muslims while they celebrate the first day of Eid al-Adha.
Many called for a boycott of Swedish products in response to the approval of the authorities in Stockholm to burn the Quran in front of the Stockholm Central Mosque.
A Twitter user posted a video clip of angry demonstrators trying to enter the Swedish embassy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to protest the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden.
Sweden has recently witnessed repeated incidents of desecration of the Quran in front of mosques and embassies of Islamic countries, which sparked widespread anger in the Islamic world and prompted some capitals to summon Swedish diplomats to register an official objection.