Sweden: Case against two people for ‘desecrating’ Quran

Northern European countries Sweden i Prosecution in 2023 on two persons Quran is the holy book of Muslims of prescription ‘Desecration‘ and has accused several protests of inciting ‘racial hatred’.

Swedish pRasecutors charged Iraqi-born Christian activist Silwan Momika and his colleague Silwan Najm on four occasions in 2023 for ‘instigating an ethnic group’.

Senior prosecutor Anna Hankow said in a statement: ‘Both men have been prosecuted on four occasions for making (hateful) statements and desecrating copies of the Koran that were intended to insult the Muslim faith.’

According to the charge sheet, the two men desecrated the Quran, including ‘burning it’, while at one point making derogatory comments about Muslims outside a mosque in the capital Stockholm.

The prosecutor added: ‘In my opinion the statements and actions of these individuals fall within the provisions of incitement against a racial or national group and it is important that this matter be brought to court.’

Due to these people’s anti-Islamic protests, relations between Sweden and many Muslim countries became strained.

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Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, and on one occasion set fire to the compound inside, in protest against anti-Islamic actions by these men.

In August last year, the Swedish intelligence service raised the threat level, describing Sweden as a ‘priority target’ after the Quran desecration incident.

The Swedish government also condemned the desecration, upholding the country’s constitutionally mandated freedom of speech and assembly laws.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged Swedish-Danish right-wing activist Rasmus Palloden with a similar crime over an anti-Islam protest in the southern city of Malmö in 2022 that included burning a Koran.

In October 2023, a Swedish court found a man guilty of desecrating the 2020 Quran and inciting racial hatred. It was the first time a Swedish court was tried for desecration of Islam’s holy book.

Prosecutors previously said that under Swedish law, the burning of the Koran could be seen as a religious text and criticism of religion and thus protected under freedom of expression, but that it depended on the context and the statements. It can also be considered a movement against an ethnic group.