Swedish court convicts man of inciting ethnic hatred in Quran burning case

Shafaq News/ A landmark ruling in a Swedish court has resulted in the conviction of a 27-year-old man for inciting ethnic hatred through a 2020 Quran burning incident. This marks the first time Sweden's legal system has tried the charge of desecrating Islam's holy book.

The verdict follows a series of Koran burnings earlier this year, which stirred international outrage and led to Sweden being identified as a "prioritized target," prompting heightened terror alert levels by the country's intelligence agency.

The defendant was found guilty of "agitation against an ethnic group" by the Linkoping district court in central Sweden. The court concluded that his actions specifically targeted Muslims rather than critiquing Islam as a religion. In the incident, which occurred in September 2020, the man recorded a video outside the Linkoping Cathedral showing a Quran and bacon being burned on a barbecue. A derogatory remark about the Prophet Mohammed was written on a sign under the barbecue. The video, which included the song "Remove Kebab," associated with far-right groups, was posted on social media, and the burnt items were placed outside the Linkoping mosque.

Despite the defendant's claims that his actions were a critique of Islam, the court dismissed this argument. In its ruling, the court emphasized that the chosen music in the video, linked to a 2019 attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, carried a clear threat against Muslims and alluded to their faith. The court declared that the defendant's primary intent was to express threats and contempt through the film's content and its manner of dissemination.