Sweden jails activist who burned Quran for inciting hatred – DW – 11/05/2024
www.dw.com
Far-right activist Rasmus Paludan caused outrage when he burned a copy of the Quran in 2022. A judge said his actions went beyond reasonable criticism of Islam and were intended to defame Muslims.

Summary

A Swedish court sentenced far-right activist Rasmus Paludan to four months in jail for inciting hatred against Muslims after he burned a Quran at two protests in Malmo in 2022.

The court ruled that Paludan’s remarks and actions went beyond permissible criticism of Islam, aiming instead to insult and defame Muslims, Arabs, and Africans. Paludan, a dual citizen of Sweden and Denmark, plans to appeal the verdict.

His Quran burnings previously strained Sweden’s relations with Turkey, complicating Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

  • Saleh@feddit.orgEnglish
    1·
    2 hours ago

    If you were to protest the Iranian regime, you should use a flag of the current regime. Burning Quran to protest one specific Muslim country is like burning Torah to protest Israel. The symbol is specific to the entire religion and not some country or administration or so. So it is always an attack on the religion as a whole.

    Also Islam and (afaik) Judaism don’t have a central religious authority like the catholic church does. So attacking the religion to criticize a certain institution works even less.