Denmark and Sweden, under growing pressure from Muslim countries, are contemplating free speech restrictions that would outlaw burning copies of the Quran. Recent Quran-burnings by anti-Islam activists in Copenhagen and Stockholm have sparked angry protests in several Muslim countries and increased the terrorist threat against the two Scandinavian countries.
Islamism (h/t Marvin W) Sofie Löwenmark, a Swedish journalist who covers Islamic extremism, said that calls for a ban on Quran burnings is a smokescreen to hide the larger objective: a ban on legitimate criticism of Islam.
The threats have fueled a debate about balancing free speech and security, but some observers are warning that changing free speech laws in the middle of a security crisis would be “giving in to blackmail.” The editorial board of Expressen, one of Sweden’s oldest newspapers, noted that doing so “would in practice mean that foreign actors are given power over which opinions are allowed in Sweden.”
On July 31, the foreign ministers of the 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) — a Saudi Arabia-based group that has long called for an international blasphemy law that would not only guarantee special protections for Islam, but also shield it from legitimate scrutiny and criticism — convened an “extraordinary session” to discuss responses to the Quran burnings.
In a statement, the OIC expressed anger at Denmark and Sweden for failing to outlaw “the repetition of such acts of aggression” that “spread hatred and contempt for religions and threaten global peace, security and harmony.” The OIC also called for an international law aimed at “criminalizing incitement to violence based on religion or belief,” and demanded that the European Union “clarify the gravity and consequences of persisting in insulting Islamic symbols and sanctities.”
On July 12, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) approvedan OIC-sponsored resolution — “Countering Religious Hatred Constituting Incitement to Discrimination, Hostility or Violence” — that seeks to outlaw “public and premeditated acts of desecration of the Holy Qur’an.” The resolution, which passed with a vote of 28 in favor, 12 against and 7 abstentions, was opposed by the United States and the European Union on free speech grounds.
The OIC has long pressed the European Union and the United States to impose limits on free speech and expression about Islam. It recently has redoubled efforts to persuade Western democracies to implement HRC Resolution 16/18, which calls on all countries to combat “intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization” of “religion and belief.” The OIC effectively is seeking a paradigm shift to the existing international legal order that would make criticizing Islam a violation of human rights — at the expense of free speech.
Denmark and Sweden, known for their storied traditions of constitutionally-protected free speech, have long been the target of Islamic extremists. In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Postenpublished 12 editorial cartoons, some of which depicted Mohammad, the prophet of Islam. This sparked deadly riots across the Muslim world.
In Sweden, a Quran-burning rally in Stockholm in January 2023 enraged the Turkish government and jeopardized Sweden’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned that “as long as you allow my holy book, the Quran, to be burned and torn, we will not say ‘yes’ to your entry into NATO.” That threat was widely interpreted as a demand that Sweden enact a new blasphemy law as a condition for NATO membership.
On February 8, in a reversal of long-standing policy, the Swedish government refused to allow anti-Islam activists to burn a Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. They subsequently prohibited a Quran burning rally that was planned for February 20 in front of the Iraqi embassy in the Swedish capital. On June 12, the Swedish Court of Appeals ruled that those bans were unconstitutional.
Since then, two Iraqi immigrants — 37-year-old Salwan Momika, who arrived in Sweden from Iraq in 2018 and received a three-year residence permit in April 2021, and 48-year-old Salwan Najem, who migrated to Sweden from Iraq in 1998 and became a Swedish citizen in June 2005 — have repeatedly desecrated the Islamic holy book.
On June 28, Momika burned a Quran outside Stockholm’s Central Mosque. On July 20, Momika and Najem stomped on a Quran outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm and on July 31, they burned a Quran in front of the Swedish Parliament. The desecrations provokedwidespread anger across the Muslim world, including from Erdoğan, who vowed to “teach the arrogant Western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims.”
Some analysts say Erdoğan, whose longstanding goal has been to criminalize criticism of Islam in Europe, is seizing on the Quran burnings and other “Islamophobia” controversies to extract concessions from Sweden and other European countries.
The Swedish Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen, Säpo) warned that Quran burnings and the subsequent protests in the Muslim world have resulted in a “worsening of the security situation.” Säpo’s deputy head of counter-terrorism, Susanna Trehörning, told SVT public television that there are “influential people who are now sending out very clear narratives about Sweden and also calls for revenge.” She added that the “threat from people within the violent Islamic environment” was “very high.”
On July 30, the Danish government issued a statement saying that it was exploring “the possibility of intervening in special situations where, for instance, other countries, cultures, and religions are being insulted, and where this could have significant negative consequences for Denmark, not least with regard to security.” It added that “this must of course be done within the framework of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression and in a manner that does not change the fact that freedom of expression in Denmark has very broad scope.”
The editorial board of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheterwarned that Islamists “will not be content with a blasphemy law because they will always want to go one step further.” The editorial board of the Swedish newspaper Expressenagreed that the Islamists pressuring Sweden are “unlikely to be content” with a ban on Quran burnings. “The risk is obvious that small Swedish concessions in this situation would only lead to new demands for submission.”
pip says
You can use it as a door mat, toilet paper, fire starter, you can recycle it into a bible.
Canuckguy says
I am wondering if the two Iraqis are muslim or not. Could they be Christian? (not that there is anything wrong with that). Also I wonder what that turkey’s view would be if the Christian bible was being burned in Turkey?
BareNakedIslam says
One of them is an ex Muslim. Don’t know about the other.
Canuckguy says
They must have woke up and smelled the coffee and saw the light.
Pray Hard says
All of us knew they’d cave. They always do.
The Tasmanian Devil says
Let’s see… How do you spell “S-U-I-C-I-D-A-L?”
Conrad Calvano says
Tragic and so retrograde! That too just when we had colletively commended Sweden for steadfastly standing by those men who burned the quran before a mosque, and were attacked by that violent hijabed woman.
Daniel Erbstoesser says
Sweden has to do this and she has no choice. Sweden has millions of muslims in it and it was sweden who told all back in the late seventees that multi culti is good and the swed must accept it. Should sweden and soon the rest of europe not do this then there will be a civil war or to say it right a muslim war against us all.
Ghulam says
Re: the first video
By Allah, I don’t want to live in a Muslim country again.
It’s SUPER UNSAFE to be surrounded by my own kind. It triggers so many bad memories.
The existence of that broad at 0:35 is enough to make me wanna kill myself.
BareNakedIslam says
Ghulam, I never understand why Muslims who fled their home countries try to make the countries to which they fled into the countries they just left.
Ghulam says
There are a few things that are absolutely essential to a Muzzie no matter where they are:
1) Halal food
2) Access to Ramadan sweets.
Our cuisine and cultural requirements are pretty elaborate (we need our kebabs on a daily basis).
It’s similar to a bunch of Brits always searching for a fish and chips joint. No matter where in the world they are.
It’s definitely unacceptable if they start FORCING others to eat fish and chips.
BareNakedIslam says
Therein lies the problem.
BLR says
give up your right to free speech stand in line for domination can’t issue no other warning as
dire … world history backs up that truth
Reader says
The worst thing you can do with dealing with psychopaths is to try to appease them. That only emboldens them.