/ world today news/ A Swedish court overturned the ban on public events with the burning of the Koran. And Sweden should be directly interested in stopping these acts of desecration of the holy book for Muslims, because they are pitting it against Turkey and preventing it from joining NATO. Who and why is burning the Koran in Sweden and why is it so hard to stop?
Danish far-right activist Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Hard Course party, is a hardened provocateur. Already in 2018-2019, he held a series of anti-Islamic demonstrations in his homeland, burned the Koran, recorded and published videos humiliating Muslims. The Danish authorities began to file cases against him on charges of racism and defamation (however, he received only a month of actual imprisonment and two months of probation), and he moved his operations to neighboring Sweden.
A bad example
It is true that when Paludan announced in August 2020 an action to burn the Koran in the Swedish city of Malmö, the country’s authorities, already having a sad experience, understood that such a radical “traveler” was dangerous – and he was forbidden to enter. However, Paludan, taking advantage of the fact that his father was a Swedish citizen, applied for Swedish citizenship himself. And he got it!
In April 2022, Paludan did burn the Koran in Malmö. As a result, riots broke out in the city. The most striking thing is that Rasmus Paludan himself escaped very lightly. Swedish Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said Paludan allegedly had a constitutional right to freely express his opinion in a democratic society.
And in May 2022, Paludan was allowed to hold public meetings of his supporters in Turkey. True, his actions became the subject of a preliminary investigation, since Paludan was suspected of “inciting hatred against an ethnic group.” However, the investigation is conducted extremely sluggishly. The result of such complicity was not long in coming: on January 21, Paludan, flicking his lighter, burned another Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
Paludan found a following – the same right-wing radicals as himself. But now Swedish law enforcement agencies, frightened by the prospect of more pogroms, have begun to act more firmly. In February 2023, Stockholm police twice refused permits to publicly burn the Koran near the Turkish and Iraqi embassies. Police explained that previous burnings of the Muslim holy book “created a threat to Sweden’s security”. Law enforcement officials believe that if the burning of the Koran is allowed, the risk of riots and terrorist attacks will increase.
However, the police decision was challenged. And now, in April, the decision of the Swedish Administrative Court officially overturned the police ban. The court considered that such prohibitions could only be applied “if it is necessary to ensure order and security directly at the place of the demonstration”.
How not to join NATO
Who exactly, besides Paludan, wants to burn the Koran in Sweden? One of them is a 36-year-old Iraqi named Salwan Momika. Momika, who moved to Sweden a few years ago, calls himself a Christian. He still doesn’t understand Swedish or English – and they have to communicate with him through an Arabic translator.
Momika shows extreme hostility to Islam – according to him, the followers of this religion are “zealous oppressors” and are responsible for the destruction of his homeland, which he calls “Mesopotamia”. Momika scares the Swedes: “I fear that the same thing that happened to my homeland Mesopotamia will happen to Sweden.”
Momika assures that Europeans do not know that the followers of Islam are like “a grenade that can explode anywhere and at any time”. According to him, “this book is extremely dangerous for European democratic laws and societies”.
The Iraqi refugee says he believes in “freedom and democracy” and has thought about burning the Koran before – but was finally inspired to do so by Rasmus Paludan. “I don’t know what Paludan’s goals are, but since he is burning the Koran, I support him. There may be opinions that do not coincide with mine, there may be political goals that do not coincide with mine. But we both agree that it is okay to burn the Quran,” says Salman Momika.
Another participant in these blasphemous acts is a black Swede named Chris Macundul. Here it is even more interesting. Unlike Momika, Makundul represents not only himself, but behind him there is an organization – “Apalarkerna Cultural Association”. It is a small non-governmental organization based in the Johanneson district of Stockholm. The organization claims to adhere to “libertarian” beliefs.
Macundul says he wants to thwart Sweden’s entry into NATO. According to him, membership in the Alliance will not bring anything good to the country – and this must be prevented. “There are a number of reasons for our disagreement, including the economic cost of NATO membership and its negative impact on areas such as health, education and crime,” the association said in a press release.
Makundul filed a request to burn the Koran on February 9 in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. He was provoked by the sharp reaction of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who after Paludan’s actions promised to block Stockholm’s path to NATO. In addition, Makundul, according to him, did not intend to really offend Muslims – he wanted, after receiving permission from the police for the action, to simply hand over this document to the Turkish embassy and not burn anything. But his permission was denied.
“Very grateful”
After being refused by the police, both Momika and Makundule go to court. And the court passed a decision that completely satisfied the potential blasphemers. But their plan for further action is completely different.
“I am very happy and grateful for this decision of the Administrative Court,” says Salvan Momika. Now, according to him, he will be able to carry out his plans, but he has not yet decided when exactly. Momika, he assures, absolutely does not want this to affect the process of Sweden’s accession to NATO. “For me, it’s not about NATO, it’s about criticizing the Koran, which I think should be banned not only in Sweden, but all over the world,” emphasizes the Iraqi.
For his part, Chris Macundule is also satisfied with the sentence, but reiterates that he really will not burn the Koran. “It was never our intention, we believe that book burning is barbaric. We will take this verdict to the Turkish embassy and ask them to hand it over to President Erdogan. He promised to keep Sweden out of NATO if Koran burning was allowed. We ask him to keep his promise”, emphasizes the activist.
„Incitement to racial hatred’
Recently, conspiracy theorists have revived, claiming that the Koran burning story is evidence of the hidden reluctance of the Swedish authorities to abandon neutrality and join NATO. For example, they already regret the hastily made promises, but since they cannot openly “turn their backs”, they prefer to quietly sabotage the entry process.
However, the reality seems much simpler. The Swedish court allowed the burning of the Koran because it fits his worldview. Goran Lamberts, a prominent lawyer in the country who was the head of Sweden’s Supreme Court from 2009 to 2017, wrote an extensive essay on the subject. The lawyer writes that if the burning of a holy book is recognized as an act of “incitement to racial hatred”, then what about other acts of this kind?
After all, in modern Europe, religious “actionism” is widespread, when the feelings of the faithful are abused – no, not, as a rule, the Muslims, who are still feared, but Christians. In many cases, the perpetrators of such violations go unpunished – so what, must they all be tried now?
Lamberts adds that in the practice of Swedish law enforcement agencies there is no clear indication of whether or not to burn the Koran. “The crime of blasphemy was abolished in Swedish law in 1971 and it is clear that we do not want to reintroduce it,” says the lawyer. But if, you see, Koran burning is prohibited on the grounds that such an act will serve to incite hatred towards the ‘Muslim’ group, then should such groups as ‘Swedes’, ‘Europeans’ and ‘Christians’ be protected? But there is a precedent of another kind – at the time, the Swedish state placed under police protection the cartoonist Lars Vilks, who drew a series of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
In general, according to Swedish jurisprudence, everything is ambiguous. And if so, then it is best to act in accordance with the dogmas of liberalism – to allow an act of abuse.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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