Elham Asaad Buaras
A 42-year-old man was charged with incitement against an ethnic group and insult on August 7, according to Swedish prosecutors. Although the Swedish Prosecution Authority did not disclose his name, Swedish media sources identified him as Rasmus Paludan. Paludan, a Swedish-Danish far-right extremist, has gained international notoriety for his public Qur’an burnings in recent years.
The charges stem from two separate incidents in Malmö in April and September 2022. During these events, Paludan made inflammatory remarks targeting Muslims, Arabs, and Africans. Senior prosecutor Adrien Combier-Hogg noted, “My assessment is that there are sufficient grounds to bring charges, and now the district court will consider the
case.”
Paludan claimed he was unaware of the indictment and denied any wrongdoing. Burning the Qur’an is deeply offensive to Muslims, who view the holy book as the word of God. In response to over 500 such incidents in 2023, Denmark enacted a ban on Qur’an burning in December.
As the leader of the Danish and Swedish far-right party Hard Line, Paludan has repeatedly set fire to copies of the Qur’an in Stockholm and Copenhagen, provoking outrage in Muslim-majority nations. His actions led to significant protests, including an assault on the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad.
In April 2022, Paludan’s planned Qur’an burnings triggered violent riots across Sweden. Later that summer, similar acts were believed to have inspired a terrorist attack in Brussels, where Swedish tourists were targeted and killed. The gunman was reported to have specifically chosen the victims because they were Swedish.
Paludan’s activities also briefly endangered Sweden’s NATO membership bid, straining relations with Türkiye. Sweden eventually joined the defence alliance in January.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called the Qur’an-burning protest a “vile protest” and said, “It is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims.”
Türkiye’s foreign minister condemned the protest as a “heinous act.” A date for a trial was not announced but it is expected to last two days.
Sweden: Rasmus Paludan burns the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21, 2023. Photo by Tobias Hellsten (Creative Commons).
