Sweden Prosecuting Two Men for Quran Burning
Sweden Prosecuting Two Men for Quran Burning
The Facts
The Swedish Proesecution Authority (SPA) announced Wednesday that two men, Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem, will be prosecuted on "offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group" after the pair were seen burning the Quran last year.
The men, one of whom is a Christian Iraqi, were seen setting fire to the Islamic holy book on video and in person at protests, including at a Mosque in Stockholm. Besides desecrating and burning the books, they're also accused of disparaging Muslims.
The Spin
Burning the Quran is not free speech, as it's clearly been used by far-right activists and others to insult and provoke Muslims. Europe has laws against several other speech-adjacent acts, such as Holocaust denial and defaming royal families, which are intended to incite hatred against certain groups of people. Burning the Quran is no different under the law.
The only hypocrasy in this debate is that while Western countries cater to the emotions of violent Muslim mobs, Muslim governments allow violence against Christians to run rampant in their countries. One religious group has laws written around its preferences while the other is forced to give up its beleifs and live in fear of the other.
