Iraqis keep up Qur’an protests in Baghdad after book burnings
Protesters pushed back by security forces, preventing them from reaching the Danish embassy
Protest comes two days after people stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad
Updated 23 July 2023
AP
BAGHDAD: Tensions flared again in Iraq Saturday over a series of recent protests in Europe involving desecration of the Holy Qur’an which have sparked a debate over the balance between freedom of speech and religious sensitivities.
Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and the seat of Iraq’s government, early Saturday following reports that an ultranationalist group burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an in front of the Iraqi Embassy in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
The protest came two days after people angered by the planned burning of the Islamic holy book in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad.
Security forces on Saturday pushed back protesters, who blocked the Jumhuriya Bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish Embassy.
FASTFACT
Security forces pushed back protesters, who blocked the Jumhuriya Bridge leading to the Green Zone, preventing them from reaching the Danish Embassy.
Elsewhere in Iraq, protesters burned three caravans belonging to a demining project run by the the Danish Refugee Council, or DRC, in the city of Basra in the south, local police said in a statement. The fire was extinguished by civil defense responders, and there were “no human casualties, only material losses,” the statement said.
The DRC confirmed in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that its premises in Basra “came under armed attack” early Saturday.
“We deplore this attack — aid workers should never be a target of violence,” Lilu Thapa, DRC’s executive director for the Middle East said.
Iraq’s prime minister has cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Holy Qur’an in that country.
An Iraqi asylum-seeker who burned a copy of the Holy Qur’an during a demonstration last month in Stockholm had threatened to do the same thing again on Thursday but ultimately stopped short of setting fire to the book.
He did, however, kick and step on it, and did the same with an Iraqi flag and a photo of Muqtada Al-Sadr and of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The right to hold public demonstrations is protected by the constitution in Sweden, and blasphemy laws were abandoned in the 1970s. Police generally give permission based on whether they believe a public gathering can be held without major disruptions or safety risks.
On Friday afternoon, thousands protested peacefully in Iraq and other Muslim-majority countries.
In the incident in Copenhagen, according to Danish media reports, members of the ultranationalist group Danske Patrioter burned a copy of the Qur’an and an Iraqi flag in front of the Iraqi Embassy, livestreaming the action on Facebook.
Copenhagen police spokeswoman Trine Fisker said that “a very small demonstration” with fewer than 10 people took place Friday afternoon across the street from the Iraqi Embassy and that a book was burned.
“We do not know what book it was,” she said. “Apparently they tried to burn the Iraqi flag and after that, somebody stepped on it.”
Fisker said the “political angle is not for the police to comment” on, but the “event was peaceful ... from a police perspective.”
The Danish government on Saturday condemned the demonstration.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the action “stupidity that a small handful of individuals did.”
“It is a shameful act to violate the religion of others,” he said.
“This applies both to the burning of Qur’ans and other religious symbols. It has no other purpose than to provoke and create division.”
The incident prompted the protests in Baghdad.
Chanting in support of Al-Sadr and carrying images of the prominent leader and the flag associated with his movement, along with the Iraqi flag, hundreds of protesters attempted to enter the Green Zone and clashed with security forces before dispersing.
In a statement on Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “in strong and repeated terms, the incident of abuse against the Holy Qur’an and the flag of the Republic of Iraq in front of the Iraqi Embassy in Denmark.”
It called the international community “to stand urgently and responsibly toward these atrocities that violate social peace and coexistence around the world.” the statement read.
Israel to send delegation to Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, Israeli official says
Hamas earlier said it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit”
Updated 06 July 2025
Reuters
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced Gaza’s entire population internally and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes. Israel denies the accusations.
Syrian president, Lebanon’s grand mufti hold ‘frank’ talks in Damascus
Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian discuss nations’ shared aspirations
‘Syrians will not be defeated by terrorism,’ Derian says
Updated 05 July 2025
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian had an hour-long meeting at the People’s Palace in Damascus on Saturday.
Derian’s visit was the first by a Lebanese Sunni religious leader to Syria in more than 20 years, signaling a thaw in relations between the two nations that had been strained since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the start of the Syrian war in 2011.
Described as “frank,” the meeting addressed past estrangements and shared aspirations for renewal.
Derian, accompanied by a delegation of religious leaders, including Sheikh Mohammed Assaf, head of the Sunni Shariah courts, emphasized the importance of reconciliation and cooperation.
“After a long absence we come to reform the present and build a prosperous future,” he said, acknowledging the suffering of millions of Syrians and praising their resilience in the face of extremism and displacement.
He lauded the Syrian Arab Republic’s path toward free elections under Al-Sharaa — the first for more than 60 years — and expressed hope for its revival as a pillar of the Arab world and ability to overcome challenges like the recent Damascus church bombing, which he cited as evidence of ongoing conspiracies.
“Syrians will not be defeated by terrorism,” he said, praising Al-Sharaa’s navigation of a “difficult and arduous” road.
Derian underscored a renewed Lebanese-Syrian partnership founded on mutual support and Arab unity, and highlighted the promise of Lebanon’s own trajectory under a new government committed to the Taif Agreement.
“The hopes of the Lebanese are pinned on what was contained in the ministerial statement and the presidential oath, which are the beginning of the road to rebuilding a strong and just state, striving to serve all the Lebanese,” he said.
“Lebanon’s rise can only be achieved through the efforts of its best and loyal sons, both residents and expatriates, and the support of his Arab brothers and friends.”
He said there could be no salvation for Lebanon except through “sincere and constructive cooperation” with other Arab nations, which he described as the “guarantee of Lebanon’s security, stability, sovereignty, national unity and civilized Arabism which believes in the commitment to the Taif Agreement document … sponsored by Saudi Arabia.”
As a symbol of the strong ties between Lebanon and Syria, Derian presented Al-Sharaa with the Dar Al-Fatwa Gold Medal.
“We will stand with you in every calamity and joy,” he said.
The visit, coordinated with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, began with prayers at the Umayyad Mosque and a stop at Mount Qasioun.
In a separate meeting with Syrian Minister of Endowments Mohammed Abu Al-Khair, Derian emphasized Dar Al-Fatwa’s role in promoting moderate Islam, citizenship and coexistence amid regional challenges.
A Lebanese political observer framed the visit as a pivotal shift, not just religious but political, signaling Lebanese Sunnis’ readiness to forge a “new and normal” relationship with Syria’s emerging leadership.
The visit underscores Lebanon’s reaffirmation of its Arab identity and commitment to moderation, moving beyond decades of tension marked by assassinations and conflict.
Hezbollah, through its activists on social media, reacted cautiously to Derian’s visit to Damascus and his meeting with Al-Sharaa, with some accusing him of “stabbing the party in the back.”
What new research reveals about Gaza’s real death toll — and why it’s far higher than official figures
Israel claims Gaza’s health ministry inflates civilian deaths, but a new survey suggests it may be undercounting them
Independent researchers estimate 83,740 people have died in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 — far more than official reports
Updated 05 July 2025
Jonathan Gornall
LONDON: Since October 2023, Israel has been waging two parallel wars in Gaza: One, to destroy Hamas and rescue its hostages; the other, a propaganda campaign designed to discredit the tally of civilian fatalities issued by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
However, as new independent research suggests, far from exaggerating the number of deaths since Israel began its retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, the Gaza Ministry of Health appears to have been significantly underestimating them.
According to the latest tally from the Ministry of Health, the total number of Palestinians killed since the war began is now approaching 55,000, with a further 126,000 injured.
A Palestinian man carries a child pulled from the rubble of the Shaheen family home that was targetted in an Israeli strike in the Saftawi neighborhood, Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on June 9, 2025. (AFP)
A paper published by a team of researchers in the US, UK, Norway and Belgium, working in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Gaza, shows the death toll is likely far higher.
As of January 5 this year, it found the total number of violent deaths over the course of the conflict had already reached 75,200.
This figure, derived independently of the Ministry of Health, is based on an exhaustive household survey, which revealed another disturbing statistic about the war in Gaza.
In addition to the 75,200 violent deaths, the survey highlighted a further 8,540 non-violent deaths caused by indirect factors, including disease, hunger, and loss of access to medical treatment and medication.
Palestinian men, wounded in gunfire as people were receiving humanitarian aid in Rafah, arrive for treatment at congested Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 3, 2025. (AFP)
That brings the total number of deaths resulting from the war in Gaza since October 2023 to 83,740.
“Our estimate for the number of violent deaths far exceeds the figures from the Ministry of Health,” said Michael Spagat, a professor of economics at Royal Holloway College, University of London, the lead author of the study and chairman of the board of trustees of the UK charity Every Casualty Counts.
“The implication of this is that the ministry has not been exaggerating the number of violent deaths.”
IN NUMBERS
• 75,200 Violent deaths resulting from the war in Gaza.
• 8,540 Non-violent deaths caused by indirect factors.
• 83,740 Total number of deaths since October 2023.
(Source: Gaza Mortality Survey)
The ministry has also been accused of falsifying the number of children killed in Israeli attacks. But “the demographics of the ministry’s figures seem to be about right,” said Spagat.
“The proportion of women, elderly, and children among the dead in its figures is consistent with what we found.”
The new research estimates that 56 percent of those killed between October 2023 and January this year — 42,200 of the total 75,200 victims — were either women, children, or those aged over 65.
Palestinian civil defense first responders and other people inspect the remains of a burnt-down classroom following an Israeli strike at the UNRWA's Osama bin Zaid school in the Saftawi district of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
More than half of these (22,800) were children under the age of 18, meaning that almost one in three of those killed in Gaza up to January this year was a child.
The Gaza Mortality Survey, which in line with standard academic procedure received ethical pre-approval from the University of London and obtained informed consent from each respondent, was conducted between Dec. 30, 2024, and Jan. 5, 2025.
Ten two-person teams from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, tracked by GPS and real-time monitoring, conducted face-to-face questionnaire-based interviews, which were recorded on tablets and phones, and uploaded data instantly to a secure central server.
The survey teams visited a sample of 2,000 households, representative of prewar Gaza, and collected information about the “vital status” of 9,729 household members and their newborn children — including whether they were alive or dead and, if dead, how they had died.
The survey, said Spagat, “would have been impossible without the support of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
Economics professor Michael Spagat of Royal Holloway College, University of London. (Supplied)
“First of all, we would not have been let into Gaza, but our partner was already there. They have experienced survey researchers in Gaza, and they were the ones who conducted the interviews.
“Also crucial was that this organization has been tracking population movements since the war began. If we were doing a survey in Gaza under stable conditions, we would have a list of where people are, based on the last census. But there has been so much displacement the census-based list was of limited value.”
Instead, because it has been tracking population movements throughout the war, the PCPSR was able to identify 200 sample sites sheltering internally displaced people which reflected the distribution of pre-2023 populations, including in the now inaccessible areas of northern Gaza, Gaza City, and Rafah.
Palestinian civil defense first responders and other people inspect the remains of a burnt-down classroom following an Israeli strike at the UNRWA's Osama bin Zaid school in the Saftawi district of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on June 27, 2025. (AFP)
As with all such research, all the numbers come with a cautionary “confidence interval” — a margin of error that shows the possible range of figures, allowing for under- and overestimation. For the total number of violent deaths estimated by the survey, this gives a range of between 63,600 and 86,800.
“Even the lowest figure is a big number, and about 16,000 above the comparable Ministry of Health figure at the time of the survey,” said Spagat.
“We have tried to draw conclusions that we are quite confident won’t get overturned by further research, and one of our conclusions is that the Ministry of Health is not capturing all of the deaths in Gaza and that there is a substantial degree of undercount there.”
He added: “Our estimate for the number of children killed (22,800) is shockingly high, and well above the Ministry of Health figure.”
A Health Ministry rescue team is seen at work in the Zarqa neighborhood in northern Gaza City following an Israeli strike on October 26, 2024. (AFP/File)
Taking into account the survey’s confidence interval, the number of child deaths could range from a low of 16,700 to as many as 28,800. And at either end of that scale, said Spagat, “that is an awful lot of children.”
It is, he said, “possible that the true number of total violent deaths is even below the bottom of our confidence interval, but it’s extremely unlikely to be so far below it that it would overturn our conclusion that the Ministry of Health is not capturing all of the deaths.”
He is anxious that the survey’s conclusions should in no way be seen as a criticism of the Ministry of Health, “which has had a lot on its plate.”
In fact, although the ministry’s tally is not fully comprehensive — it has, for instance, yet to compile or release figures for non-violent war-related deaths, which this survey has revealed for the first time — Spagat said its work should be highly commended.
A man reacts as others gather to watch the burial of some of the 88 bodies in a mass grave in Khan Yunis on September 26, 2024. The bodies were recovered after Israeli strikes on civilian homes. (AFP/File)
Despite the constant criticism by Israel and its supporters, the work it is doing, under extreme conditions, “is exceptionally transparent,” he said.
“For each person they’re saying is dead, they’re listing a name and they’re listing a national ID number, a sex, and age.”
The first list of the dead was released by the ministry in October last year, in response to accusations that it was making up the numbers killed by Israel.
One factor that has been widely overlooked by critics of the ministry’s figures is the significance of the ID numbers.
Based on 2,000 household interviews, researchers say many deaths in Gaza have gone uncounted due to displacement. (AFP)
“It’s the Israelis who maintain the population register for the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, so at a minimum, they can take that list and they can check to verify that everyone listed on it is a real person,” said Spagat.
“They must have done some checking like this, and I’ve got to believe that if the Ministry of Health was just making up names Israel would have made that known.”
Ultimately, Spagat believes, the lists being compiled by Gaza’s Ministry of Health “will serve as a memorial for the people who are killed in a way that just recording a number can’t. By listing people individually, you are recording some semblance of who they were as human beings.”
The model for this, he said, was the Kosovo Memory Book, an exhaustive record of all those killed, missing, or disappeared in the fighting between 1998 and 2000, compiled by the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo.
A view of the wall plaques at a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Racak massacre, in the village of Racak, Kosovo. (AFP)
This record, say its authors, “calls everyone to pause in front of it, to read each name and find out who these people were and how they died. It urges people to remember people.”
In time, it adds, “when the data on the fate of those who are still missing are finally obtained … the Kosovo Memory Book will have become the most reliable witness to our recent past.”
When peace finally comes to Gaza, said Spagat, “I hope there will be funding for research on this scale (based) on the really good foundations being laid by the Ministry of Health.”
UN calls for inquiry into Libyan activist’s death after being detained
Abdel Monem Al-Marimi was a well-known government critic and took part in regular protests
The activist died Friday night at a clinic in Tripoli from injuries sustained in a fall
Updated 05 July 2025
AFP
TRIPOLI: The UN mission in Libya urged authorities on Saturday to open an investigation into the death of a prominent activist who prosecutors say threw himself down a stairwell after being detained.
Abdel Monem Al-Marimi was a well-known government critic and took part in regular protests demanding the removal of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah.
In a statement, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said Marimi “was reportedly abducted by the Internal Security Agency in Surman (west of Tripoli) on 30 June and referred to the Attorney General’s office on 3 July,” adding he later died under “circumstances that are yet to be clarified.”
UNSMIL is deeply saddened by the death of activist Abdel Munim Al-Maremi. The Mission extends its condolences to his family and urges authorities to conduct a transparent and independent investigation into his arbitrary detention, allegations of torture during his detention, and… pic.twitter.com/kHjheZaPPU
According to local media, the activist died Friday night at a clinic in Tripoli from injuries sustained in a fall at the attorney general’s office.
The office has said that Marimi was taken to hospital after jumping down a stairwell.
The government has so far offered no further comment on Marimi’s death.
UNSMIL called for a “transparent and independent investigation into his arbitrary detention, allegations of torture during his detention, and circumstances surrounding his death.”
The attorney general’s office said that before the incident in the stairwell, Marimi had been released from an interview, adding it was reviewing surveillance camera footage.
UNSMIL went on to condemn “threats, harassment, and arbitrary arrests targeting politically active Libyans,” and urged the authorities “to uphold free speech and end unlawful detentions.”
