Why are Quran-burning incidents so common in Sweden?

On Thursday, an Iraqi man desecrated a copy of the Quran in Stockholm as Swedish police watched. This asylum seeker to Sweden last month burned a copy of the Quran at a previous demonstration last month. Ahead of the incident, protesters stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad – breaking into the compound and lighting a small fire. Sweden has witnessed Quran burnings as well as a slew of requests to burn more holy books – leaving it a delicate balancing act between wanting to protect minorities as well as its commitment to free speech. Let’s take a look at what happened and the free speech debate: What happened? Two men held an anti-Islam protest on a lawn around 100 meters from the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm. One of them, identified by Swedish media as Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian living in Sweden, stepped on and kicked the Quran, but didn’t set it on fire.

Momika also stepped on and kicked an Iraqi flag and photographs of Sadr and of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

About 50 people including journalists and a handful of counterdemonstrators who chanted religious slogans watched the demonstration from behind police barricades as plainclothes and uniformed officers stood by. Last month, man identified by local media and on his social media as Momika burned a Quran outside a Stockholm mosque during the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, triggering widespread condemnation in the Islamic world. Stockholm police spokesman Mats Eriksson confirmed that police had granted permission for a demonstration involving two people outside the Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm on Thursday. He could not say whether the protesters were planning to burn the Quran, although Momika had announced in videos posted on social media that they planned to do so. Swedish embassy attacked In Baghdad, dozens of men climbed over the fence at the complex containing the Swedish Embassy. Video footage showed men trying to break down a door, setting a fire and standing, some shirtless in the summer heat, inside what appeared to be a room at the embassy, an alarm audible in the background. [caption id=“attachment_12893512” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Thursday’s demonstration was called by supporters of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to protest against the second planned Koran burning in Sweden in weeks, according to posts in a popular Telegram group linked to the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media Image Courtesy Reuters[/caption] Others later performed predawn prayers outside of the embassy. As dawn broke, police and other security officials gathered at the embassy as firefighters tried to douse the flames from the ladder of a fire truck. Some demonstrators still stood at the site, holding placards showing al-Sadr’s face, apparently left alone by police.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that its staff were safe.

“We condemn all attacks on diplomats and staff from international organizations,” the ministry said. “Attacks on embassies and diplomats constitute a serious violation of the Vienna Convention. Iraqi authorities have the responsibility to protect diplomatic missions and diplomatic staff.” Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström called the attacks “completely unacceptable” in a statement and said the ministry would summon Iraq’s charge d’affaires in Stockholm, slamming Iraqi authorities for “seriously failing” in their responsibility to protect the embassy and its personnel. The Finnish embassy in Baghdad is adjacent to the Swedish embassy, in an area enclosed by blast walls. Finland’s ambassador to Iraq, Matti Lassila, told the Finnish public broadcaster YLE that the staff of the Swedish and Finnish embassies were proactively evacuated Wednesday and were uninjured. The Swedish Embassy announced it had closed to visitors. Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said that Iraqi authorities will prosecute the arsonists as well, referring “negligent security officials” for investigation. But the statement also said that the Iraqi government had informed its Swedish counterpart on Wednesday that Iraq would cut off diplomatic relations should the Quran burning go forward. Hours later, Sudani announced the ordered expulsion of the Swedish ambassador and the withdrawal of the Iraqi charge d’affaires from Sweden. Following the protest and Sudani’s announcement, the head of Iraq’s Media and Communications Commission announced it had suspended the license of Swedish communications company Ericsson to operate in Iraq. Sweden caught between free speech, and protecting minorities. The right to hold public demonstrations is strong in Sweden and protected by the constitution.

Blasphemy laws were abandoned in the 1970s.

More from Explainers

Donald Trump and Republicans are fighting over 'blue slips'. But what are they? Surat at standstill, exports halted: How Trump’s tariffs cast a pall over ‘Diamond City’

Police generally give permission based on whether they believe a public gathering can be held without major disruptions or risks to public safety. “The police does not issue permits to burn various religious texts — the police issues permits to hold a public gathering and express an opinion,” Carina Skagerlind, press officer for Stockholm police, told the AFP. “An important distinction." However, while police initially granted Momika a permit last month for the protest in line with free-speech protections, they later opened an investigation into him for “agitation". Meanwhile, public sentiment may be shifting against religious texts being burned. According to Al Jazeera. Swedish broadcaster SVT in a July survey found that more than half of people polled supported a ban on religious texts being burned. The survey cited 53 per cent of respondents as saying burning holy books in public should be outlawed. Meanwhile, 34 per cent said it should be allowed and 11 per cent remained undecided. A similar survey in February found support for banning the burning of holy books at 42 per cent, as per Al Jazeera. Now, with Swedish police saying they have received requests for demonstrations by individuals who want to burn the Quran, as well as the Torah and the Bible, a debate about the limits of freedom of speech has begun. In Sweden, some argue that criticising religion, even in a manner that is considered offensive by believers, must be allowed and that Sweden should resist pressure to re-introduce blasphemy laws, which were abandoned decades ago in this predominantly Lutheran but highly secularized Scandinavian nation.Others say such protests should be regarded as hate speech, which is outlawed in the country when it targets ethnicity or race. [caption id=“attachment_12811972” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Police officers intervene people react to demonstrators burning the Quran outside Stockholm’s central mosque. Reuters[/caption] The Swedish government earlier in July issued a statement saying it “strongly rejects the Islamophobic act committed by individuals in Sweden,” adding that it “in no way reflects the opinions of the Swedish Government.” That elicited criticism from several commentators in Sweden, who said the government needs to stand up for freedom of speech and refrain from passing judgment on individual protests. “I think it is exceptional and extremely inappropriate for the government … to criticize an individual demonstration carried out by a person who, by all accounts, has stayed within the bounds of the law, who has only used his constitutional freedom of expression,” Nils Funcke, a prominent Swedish freedom of speech advocate, told public broadcaster SVT. Others say such protests should be regarded as hate speech, which is outlawed in the country when it targets ethnicity or race. The Swedish government earlier in July issued a statement saying it “strongly rejects the Islamophobic act committed by individuals in Sweden,” adding that it “It is a very serious situation for Sweden,” said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert who is strategic advisor for the Center for Societal Security at the Swedish Defense University. “We have foreign powers, like Russia for example, which spread information in Arabic about this. We have Turkey, which is using it for leverage in the NATO debate,” Ranstorp said. What do experts say? Experts are divided. Writing in The Print, Praveen Swamy argued that bringing back blasphemy laws would serve to undercut the foundations of liberal democracies. “Like Kanhaiya Lal Teli, brutally murdered for posting a video on social media with purportedly blasphemous content, Salwan Momika might not be a free-speech crusader. But defending his right to express his opinion protects us all,” Swamy argued. A piece in The Daily Observer argued that the world is already beset by strife and division and that such incidents only makes things worse. “Incidents like burning Quran and subsequent reactions by the West will create more divisions in the world and may even lead to World War III. For the sake of the world and its inhabitants, such incidents must not be allowed against any religion. If the world leaders cannot think about everyone as a human and have neutral viewpoint over the believers of different religions, then they will not be able to do anything good for the world,” the piece stated. “We hope, freedom of expression does not hurt anyone’s sentiment and belief. Hurting someone’s religion under the state sponsorship is the vilest work. If such things keep happening, then violence will follow and that is inevitable. We want peace and hope no religious values will be hurt in the name of freedom of expression and none will support such heinous acts. At the end of the day, humanity is all that matters,” the piece concluded. Muslim nations unanimous in condemnation But for Muslims, the burning of the Quran represents a blasphemous desecration of their religion’s holy text. Quran burnings in the past have sparked protests across the Muslim world, some turning violent. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have suspended all the activities of Swedish organizations in the country in response to the recent Quran burning. “We are mobilised today to denounce the burning of the Quran, which is all about love and faith,” protester Hassan Ahmed told the French news agency AFP at the embassy. “We demand that the Swedish government and the Iraqi government stop this type of initiative,” he said.

Last month, a slew of Muslim nations condemned the burning of the Quran.

Iraq condemned the Swedish authorities’ decision to grant an “extremist” permission to burn the Quran. “These events inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world and represent a dangerous provocation for them,” the foreign ministry in Baghdad said. Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr called for a demonstration outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad to demand the removal of the ambassador, charging that his state is “hostile to Islam”. Iran joined in the condemnation, calling the Quran burning “provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable”. “The government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran… do not tolerate such an insult and strongly condemn it,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani. “The Swedish government is expected to seriously consider the principle of responsibility and accountability in this regard, while preventing the repetition of insulting the holy sanctities,” he added. Saudi Arabia, which hosted around 1.8 million Muslim pilgrims for the hajj, also denounced the Quran burning. “These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification,” the Saudi foreign ministry said. Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, called the Quran burning a “disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims” The Cairo-based Arab League branded it an “assault on the core of our Islamic faith”. United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash tweeted that the West “must realise that its value system… cannot be imposed on the world”. Kuwait called for perpetrators of such “hostile acts” to be brought to justice and “prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith”. With inputs from agencies