The demurrers have sparked outrage in countries similar as Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, but the country has no law against sacrilege and protections for freedom of speech.
Recent public sacrileges of the Quran by a sprinkle ofanti-Islam activists in Sweden have sparked an angry response in Muslim countries and raised questions about why similar acts are allowed.
In the rearmost incident, an Iraqi living in Sweden on Thursday stomped on and demurred Islam’s holy book in a two- man rally outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. The kick was authorised by Swedish police, who kept a sprinkle ofcounter-demonstrators at a safe distance.
The same Iraqi man burned a Quran outside a Stockholm synagogue last month in a analogous kick that was approved by police.
Demonstrations were planned for Friday in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon against the most recent demurrers in Sweden. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al- Sudani has also ordered the expatriation of the Swedish minister from Iraq and the pullout of the Iraqi charge d’affaires from Sweden.
Then’s a look at how Swedish authorities have been dealing with the demurrers in their country.
Is Violating the Quran allowed in Sweden?
There’s no law in Sweden specifically proscribing the burning or profanation of the Quran or other religious textbooks. Like numerous Western countries, Sweden does not have any sacrilege laws.
Can Swedish authorities stop similar acts?
Numerous Muslim countries have called on the Swedish government to stop protesters from burning the Quran. But in Sweden it’s over to police, not the government, to decide whether to authorise demonstrations or public gatherings.
The freedom of speech is defended under the Swedish constitution. Police need to cite specific grounds to deny a permit for a demonstration or public gathering, similar as pitfalls to public safety.
Stockholm police denied two operations for Quran- burning demurrers in February, citing assessments from the Swedish Security Service that similar acts could increase the threat of terror attacks against Sweden. But a court latterly capsized those opinions, saying police need to cite further concrete pitfalls.
Can Quran- burning be considered hate speech?
Sweden’s hate speech law prohibits incitement against groups of people grounded on race, race, religion, sexual exposure or gender identity.
Some say burning the Quran constitutes incitement against Muslims and should be considered hate speech. Others say similar acts are targeting the religion of Islam rather than interpreters, and review of religion must be covered by freedom of speech.
Seeking guidance from the justice system, Swedish police have filed primary hate crime charges against the man who burned the Quran outside a synagogue in Stockholm in June and profaned Islam’s holy book again on Thursday. It’s up to prosecutors to decide whether to formally charge him.
Are Swedish authorities singling out Muslims and the Quran?
Some Muslims in Sweden who were deeply hurt by recent Quran burnings questioned whether Swedish police would allow the profanation of holy books from other persuasions.
One Muslim man supposedly decided to put that to the test and applied for authorization to stage a kick last Saturday outside the Israeli Embassy in which he said he intended to burn the Torah and the Bible.
Though Israeli government officers and Jewish groups condemned the planned act and called on Swedish authorities to stop it, police approved the man’s request. still, formerly at the scene the man backed down from his plans.
How is sacrilege viewed in other corridor of the world?
Sacrilege is criminalised in numerous countries. A Pew Research Center analysis set up 79 countries and homes out of 198 studied had laws or programs on the books in 2019 that banned sacrilege, defined as “ speech or conduct considered to be contemptuous of God or of people or objects considered sacred. ” In at least seven countries- Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia it carried a implicit death judgment .