Nadine Osman
On November 5, a Swedish court sentenced Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan to four months in prison for initiating a series of Qur’an burnings that hindered Sweden’s NATO membership process.
The Malmö District Court ruled that Paludan’s actions and remarks during two 2022 Qur’an burnings violated Sweden’s hate speech laws.
“It is allowed to utter criticism in public against Muslims and Islam, but derogatory statements against a category of people can’t clearly stray beyond a factual and substantive discussion,” presiding Judge Nicklas Söderberg stated. “In this case, there was no such discussion, and the statements were solely intended to defame and hurt Muslims.”
Following the events for which he has now been convicted, Paludan burned a translated Qur’an near Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm, provoking backlash from the Turkish government, which held sway over Sweden’s NATO application.
Subsequent similar demonstrations by others intensified tensions with Muslim-majority nations, leading to incidents such as the storming of the Swedish embassy in Iraq.
Although Swedish law does not ban the burning of holy books, it prohibits acts that threaten, insult, or incite violence against ethnic, religious, and other groups. Paludan, a dual Danish-Swedish citizen, received a harsher sentence due to his prior similar convictions in Denmark.
