Koran burned again in Sweden as governments consider ban

August 1, 2023 Article

Two men burned a copy of the Koran in front of the Swedish parliament on Monday, the latest in a string of demonstrations in which Islam’s holy book was destroyed.

The two trampled on the Koran and then set it on fire, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

The same men have previously attracted attention with Islamophobic actions.

Earlier in July they set fire to a Koran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, which led to violent protests in several Muslim countries. In Iraq, a mob stormed the Swedish embassy and the government expelled the Swedish ambassador from the country.

During Monday’s action, the men had no visible supporters cheering them on, TT reported. However, there were about 15 counter-demonstrators.

On Sunday evening, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was in close contact with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen about the Koran burnings and they were seeking ways to legally prevent such Islamophobic acts out of concern for public safety.

A week ago, two men burned a book in front of the Iraqi embassy in Copenhagen in an action streamed live on the internet. The men said that the book was the Koran.

“We are in the most serious security situation since World War II, and we know here that both states, state-like actors and individuals can take advantage of the situation,” Kristersson wrote on Instagram.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen spoke on Monday of a “rather high and heightened picture of the terrorist threat.”

The conflict is particularly sensitive for Stockholm, as the Koran burnings were one reason why Turkey had for months blocked Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

But the bar for legal action is high. In Denmark and Sweden, freedom of assembly and demonstration are strongly protected by the constitution. This is one reason why courts in Stockholm have rejected a ban imposed by the police on the Islamophobic protests.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, based in Saudi Arabia, called a special meeting for Monday. In a phone call with Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha urged the Scandinavian country to take action to stop the desecrations.

Man Muslims understand the actions as hate crimes not covered by freedom of expression.

In Denmark, politicians are divided. Morten Messerschmidt, the leader of the right-wing populist People’s Party, stressed that the freedom of the West is based on the right to criticize and make fun of a religion.

The leader of the Conservative People’s Party, Søren Pape Poulsen, warned of further demands from Muslim states if the government gave in on the ban on Koran burnings.

“This is only the first step,” he said.

Controversy over what is seen as Islamophobic actions is not new to Denmark.

In 2005, controversial drawings by a Danish cartoonist depicted the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb as a turban. That triggered a wave of violent protests with dozens of deaths, during which Danish embassies were attacked.

The pictorial representation of Mohammed is a taboo in large parts of the Islamic world. In Denmark, where the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was the main focus, a bitter debate about the limits of freedom of expression followed.

After the artist died in 2021, the newspaper Jyllands-Posten wrote that “Kurt Westergaard’s fight for freedom of expression must not die with him.”

Of the current controversy, Danish Parliament Speaker Søren Gade, defence minister at the time of the cartoon controversy, said Danish interests and the safety of Danes must take precedence.

“I can’t imagine that many Danes lose sleep over the thought that they are not allowed to set fire to holy writings.”

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Categories: ban, Iraqi Embassy, Koran, Sweden, Swedish Parliament

Denmark ponders law to ban burning of the Koran in front of embassies

July 31, 2023 Article

Denmark’s foreign minister said on Sunday that the government will seek to make it illegal to desecrate the Koran or other religious holy books in front of foreign embassies in the country.

Foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in an interview with the Danish public broadcaster DR that the burning of holy scriptures “only serves the purpose of creating division in a world that actually needs unity”.

“That is why we have decided in the government that we will look at how, in very special situations, we can put an end to mockery of other countries, which is in direct conflict with Danish interests and the safety of the Danes,” he said.

A recent string of public Koran desecrations by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Denmark and neighbouring Sweden have sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.

Mr Lokke Rasmussen said the Cabinet of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is determined to find “a legal tool” to prohibit such acts without compromising freedom of expression, but he acknowledged that would not be easy.

“There must be room for religious criticism, and we have no thoughts of reintroducing a blasphemy clause,” he told DR.

“But when you stand up in front of a foreign embassy and burn a Koran or burn the Torah scroll in front of the Israeli embassy, it serves no other purpose than to mock.”

His comments followed a statement issued late on Sunday by the Danish government saying freedom of expression is one of the most important values in Danish society.

But, it added, the desecration of the Muslim holy book in Denmark has resulted in the nation being viewed in many places around the world “as a country that facilitates insult and denigration of the cultures, religions, and traditions of other countries”.

The government repeated its condemnation of such desecrations, say they are “deeply offensive and reckless acts committed by few individuals” and “do not represent the values the Danish society is built on”.

In Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Sunday on Instagram that his government is analysing the legal situation regarding desecration of the Koran and other holy books, given the animosity such acts are stirring up against Sweden.

“We are in the most serious security policy situation since the Second World War,” Mr Kristersson said.

The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation has called an emergency remote meeting on Monday to discuss the Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.

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Categories: Burning, Denmark, freedom of expression, Koran, Offence, Sweden, Torah

Brussels court convicts six of terrorist murder in 2016 attacks

July 25, 2023 Article

A Brussels court on Tuesday found six of the 10 suspects guilty of terrorist murder for their role in the 2016 terror attacks which left initially 32 dead and injured hundreds in the Belgian capital.

According to the Belgian news agency Belga, three suspects in the attacks were acquitted of that charge. The sentences will be decided in September.

A 10th suspect is believed to have died in Syria.

According to Belga, the jury also decided to hold the six convicted defendants accountable for the deaths of three additional people who died after the attacks, either after a long illness or by suicide.

That brings the official death toll to 35, the agency said.

Apart from terrorist murder, the 10 defendants were charged with attempted terrorist murder and participation in a terrorist organization.

The suicide bombings carried out on March 22, 2016 targeted the city’s airport and a metro station. They took place at a time when Europe was on edge due to previous terrorist attacks.

Six of the nine defendants put on trial for the Brussels attack already received long prison sentences from a French court for their roles in a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris in which 130 people were killed.

Tuesday’s ruling was handed down after a jury of 12 deliberated for over two weeks.

The most prominent defendant is Salah Abdeslam, who was on the run for months following the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.

He was previously sentenced to life imprisonment by a French court as well as to 20 years in jail in a separate trial for having shot at police shortly before his 2016 arrest in Brussels.

Mohamed Abrini, also already sentenced for life imprisonment in Paris, is in court in Belgium after having travelled to the airport in Brussels together with one of the suicide bombers, where he abandoned his explosives.

Oussama Atar, who is considered the leading figure of the terrorist network behind the attacks, was again tried in absentia. He is believed to have died in Syria.

Three others suspects have previously been sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison for their role in the Paris terror attacks.

Tuesday’s verdicts brings a painful chapter of Belgian history closer to an end.

Several of the accused had been surveilled by Belgian authorities ahead of the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels, but authorities failed to prevent the attacks, Belgian media reported.

The suspects faced more than 900 civil plaintiffs, including survivors with lasting physical and psychological injuries, the bereaved relatives of those killed and first responders.

In recent years, victims and victims’ organizations have repeatedly complained about insufficient and cumbersome support offered by the state.

The trial, which lasted nine months, posed a major challenge to Belgium’s judicial system, which is plagued by chronic understaffing and a lack of resources, news agency Belga reported.

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Categories: Brussels Terrorist attack, Oussama Atar, Salah Abdeslam, Suicide Bombings