Two men in Sweden have been accused of committing “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group” for burning Qur’an in front of Mosques and other public places.
Bangladeshi Muslims staged protest against defaming and burning of the holy Quran in Sweden at Paltan in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 07, 2023
They will be put on trial for setting fire to a Qur’an last year, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The Qur’an burnings drew outrage in the Muslim world and raised fears of reprisal attacks in Sweden.
Muslims see the Qur’an as the literal word of God and as such, desecrating it represents a grave offense.
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Swedish prosecutors, however, said the two men are accused of committing “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group.”
“Both men are prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Qur’an in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio said in a statement.
This is said to have occurred on four separate occasions, with the men burning Islam’s holy book outside a Mosque and in other public places, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.
‘Protected’ under Swedish constitution, lawyer says
One of the men did not comment on the charges, while the other spoke to the Reuters news agency through his lawyer, denying any wrongdoing.
“The permit granted in connection with the demonstration is covered by my client’s intent. His rights are protected by the Swedish constitution,” the man’s lawyer, Mark Safaryan, told Reuters.
The Swedish government has responded to the Qur’an burnings with condemnation while trying to uphold the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.
In July 2023, Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
Later in August, Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level after the Qur’an burnings had made the country a “prioritized target” for terror attacks.
Reuters, AFP
