Sweden has been lambasted for its practice of green lighting attacks on Islam and allowing the desecration of its holy book the Quran under the guise of freedom of expression.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kan’ani, says Sweden’s repeated sacrilege of divine sanctities, amounts to a provocative, injudicious, and unacceptable act. He adds that these acts counter authentic human rights values. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also denounced the attack on the Islamic faith saying it contradicts international efforts to spread the values of tolerance, moderation and rejection of extremism.

The strong condemnation comes after a racist stomped on the Quran, placed strips of bacon, set alight pages of the holy book and kicked it like a football. The vile attack took place outside the central mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm and coincided with Muslims observing Eid al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, which signals the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. A court had approved the anti-Islam protest.

Swedish police claim that an investigation has been opened in terms of what it called “agitation against an ethnic group” as the burning of the Quran happened so close to a mosque.

Earlier this year dual Danish and Swedish extremist Rasmus Paludan burnt a copy of the Qur’an in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, and later again in front of a mosque.