The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday called for international laws to punish burning the Quran, following a demonstration in Sweden last week in which a man burned a copy of the Muslim holy book on the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

“We must send constant reminders to the international community regarding the urgent application of international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred,” said OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, speaking after an emergency session in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The OIC condemned both the man who burned the Quran and the Swedish government for allowing him to do it. The organization resolved to send a letter of protest to Sweden and the European Commission to “express the condemnation of the incident of the burning of the Quran and demand necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of that criminal act under the pretext of freedom of expression.”

The OIC encouraged its members to make “collective efforts against vile acts” deemed insulting to Islam, and said it would re-evaluate its diplomatic ties with nations where “the sanctity of the Quran and other Islamic values, symbols and sanctities are desecrated with the consent of the concerned country.”

OIC member Iran announced on Sunday that it will delay sending an ambassador to Sweden “due to the Swedish government’s issuing of a permit to desecrate the Holy Quran.” The Iranian regime did not specify how long it would wait before dispatching another ambassador to Sweden.

Angry Shiite Muslim demonstrators in Iraq on Saturday demanded Iraq recall its own ambassador to Sweden, but Baghdad has not done so as of Monday afternoon.

The man who burned the Quran in Sweden was identified by Swedish media as an immigrant from Iraq named Salwan Momika. Momika was granted a permit by Swedish police after a court ruled that denying his request would infringe on his freedom of speech, but the permit evidently did not allow him to burn the Quran, so he is now under investigation for setting fire to the book.

Fiery Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded Sweden revoke Momika’s citizenship and extradite him to Iraq for prosecution. Failing that, Sadr said Momika would be tried in absentia for desecrating the Quran.

Momika said on Friday that he plans to burn another Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm within ten days, along with an Iraqi flag.

“The police have the right to investigate whether the burning is a hate crime. They could be right and they can be wrong,” he said.

The Swedish government on Sunday responded to the OIC by saying it “fully understands that the Islamophobic acts committed by individuals at demonstrations in Sweden can be offensive to Muslims.”

“We strongly condemn these acts, which in no way reflect the views of the Swedish government,” the statement said.

Muslim leaders have been urging the Western world to compromise its free-speech protections and outlaw insults against the Quran, Islam’s Muhammad, and other aspects of the Muslim religion for quite some time. Pakistan managed to get an “anti-blasphemy” resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2020 after then-Prime Minister Imran Khan gave a heated speech against “Islamophobia.”

“Muslims continue to be targeted with impunity in many countries. Our shrines are being destroyed; our Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) insulted; the Holy Quran burnt – and all this in the name of freedom of speech,” Khan thundered.

Khan, who was ousted as prime minister by his parliament in April 2022 and has been plotting a political comeback with a hardcore Islamist campaign, “strongly condemned” the “hate-filled Islamophobic crime of burning the Holy Quran in Sweden” on Friday.

Khan called it a “loathsome act sanctioned by the Swedish police” and said “such a hate-filled act serves no purpose beyond causing anger and deep hurt to Muslims across the world.” He called on the Swedish government to refer to the Islamophobia resolution he sponsored at the United Nations and “realize that freedom of speech in no way allows absolute freedom simply to cause hurt to others.”