Sweden charges Koran burner with hate crime

Activists from the radical anti-blasphemy party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan protest against the Koran burning in Sweden in Karachi on January 27, 2023. File | Photo credit: AFP

Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday (28 August 2024) charged two men with inciting ethnic hatred following several protests related to the burning of Korans in 2023 that sparked widespread outrage in Muslim countries.

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Korans during a series of protests, and fellow protester Salwan Najem were charged four times with “incitement against an ethnic group” in the summer of 2023.

“Both men are being prosecuted for making statements on these four occasions and for treating the Quran in a way that was intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio said in a statement.

According to the indictment, the two desecrated the Koran, including burning it, and made derogatory remarks about Muslims – in one case in front of a Stockholm mosque.

“In my opinion, the men's statements and actions fall under the provisions of incitement against an ethnic or national group and it is important that this case be heard in court,” the prosecutor added.

Relations between Sweden and several countries in the Middle East have been strained by protests in both countries.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, setting fire to the premises the second time.

In August last year, Sweden's secret service Sapo raised the threat level to four out of five after the country became a “priority target” due to the Koran burnings.

The Swedish government condemned the desecrations and at the same time referred to the country's constitutionally protected freedom of expression and assembly.

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged Swedish-Danish rights activist Rasmus Paludan with the same crime, stemming from a protest rally in the southern Swedish city of Malmö in 2022 that included burning the Koran.

In October 2023, a Swedish court convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred by burning the Koran in 2020. It was the first time the country's judiciary had heard charges of desecrating Islam's holy book.

Prosecutors had previously stated that under Swedish law, burning a Koran could be seen as criticism of the book and religion and thus fell under freedom of expression.

However, depending on the context and the statements made at the time, it could also be “incitement against an ethnic group”.