The Lebanese Caretaker Minister of Culture Mohammad Mortada, who is close to Hezbollah, has unilaterally decided to suspend cultural cooperation with Sweden and Denmark in protest against the lack of reaction from the authorities in both countries to the recurrent burning of the sacred islamic book. The decision to suspend cooperation with Copenhagen and Stockholm was not taken by the Council of Ministers.
According to the National News Agency, Mortada officially notified the Council of European Ministers of Culture, the EU ambassador to Lebanon Ralph Tarraf, and both his Danish and Swedish counterparts of his decision. In the letters he sent them, he explained that this decision was taken to “protest against the desecration of the sacred book” and the “official cover-up” for these Islamophobic acts.
