How Swedish law allows far-right extremists to desecrate Holy Quran

By Faras Ali

Since 2020, when Danish extremist Rasmus Paludan came to Sweden and set ablaze the Holy Quran – the first such instance on Swedish soil – the repeated cases of the desecration of Islam’s holiest book have earned the Scandinavian nation a bad name across the world.

The discussion in Swedish media has been mostly one-sided as most political parties and newspapers have blatantly supported the act of desecrating the Holy Quran under the guise of free speech.

Some in the country argue that Swedish freedom of speech will be in danger if this act is forbidden.

This is while Sweden’s neighbor Finland has a law prohibiting the burning of holy scriptures without endangering their freedom of speech. Paludan has been denied entry by some European countries, such as Germany and the UK for fear of stoking tensions.

The latest incident of desecration of the Holy Quran by a far-right extremist in the Swedish capital last week triggered angry protests in several Swedish cities with majority Muslim populations.

Swedish authorities failed to stop this act of blasphemy intended to hurt the sentiments of billions of Muslims across the globe despite Swedish Muslims repeatedly demonstrating their angst.

According to Swedish law, a hate crime has to be directed against a group, which missed the context.

Paludan is the leader of a small far-right extremist Danish political party called ”Stram Kurs” (Hardline) and on the party’s website (not working anymore) he openly proclaimed that his political activity aims to force Muslims to leave Denmark.

He was quoted as saying by Danish media that he wanted to provoke Muslims to violence to achieve that goal. Now connect the dots with his burning of the Holy Quran close to places where Swedish Muslims live in Sweden. How can it not be described as a hate crime?

Former Swedish Chancellor of Justice Göran Lambertz argued that burning the Holy Quran is a hate crime because the perpetrator aims to show hostility towards Muslims, a minority in the country.

But nothing happened. Then came the Swedish process to join the NATO military alliance, which was halted by Turkey for some other reasons. But when the same guy - Paludan - burned the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in January 2023 and the Turkish president went out furiously and warned not to support Sweden’s NATO bid, the political rhetoric suddenly changed.

Swedish politicians started to openly condemn it and the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson even invited Muslim leaders for an official dinner to pacify them. Magdalena Andersson, leader of the biggest opposition party Social Democrats, also called on Muslims to cool the tempers.

After that the Swedish police refused permission for burning the Holy Quran on two separate occasions, citing calls from Swedish intelligence (Säpo) to stop it.

The matter was then taken to a Swedish court and the verdict was that the police must allow it. And soon after the verdict came, another case of the desecration of the Holy Quran happened outside the biggest mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm, coinciding with the festival of Eid al-Adha.

Some Swedish politicians condemned the act but the statements were not genuine. They have been squeezed between their ambition to join NATO and upholding the so-called “freedom of speech.”

The latest case of the burning of the Holy Quran comes at a time when the Swedish government is allied with the far-right extremist party Sweden Democrats. A party founded by Nazi sympathizers but now embraced as part of a government coalition in the country.

The party is unabashedly in favor of the restriction of the Hijab in Sweden and has openly said that it wants to change the constitution to forbid the Hijab in schools.

The party has also opposed the building of mosques and started to question several Islamic doctrines, such as the Islamic marriage contract formula.

Recently, after Swedish Muslims offered Eid al-Adha prayers inside a big park in Sweden’s second-largest city of Gothenburg, the Democratic party went out and demanded that the municipality not allow that again, in a direct attack on the religious freedom of Swedish Muslims.

Sweden Democrats don’t accept the term Islamophobia and claim that Muslims have invented it to oppress others. However, statistics in Sweden show that Islamophobia is rising across the country.

The repeated cases of the burning of the Holy Quran should be understood in this context.

Faras Ali is a Sweden-based writer and political commentator.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk