cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21671511
Summary
A Swedish court sentenced far-right activist Rasmus Paludan to four months in jail for inciting hatred against Muslims after he burned a Quran at two protests in Malmo in 2022.
The court ruled that Paludan’s remarks and actions went beyond permissible criticism of Islam, aiming instead to insult and defame Muslims, Arabs, and Africans. Paludan, a dual citizen of Sweden and Denmark, plans to appeal the verdict.
His Quran burnings previously strained Sweden’s relations with Turkey, complicating Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
Blasphemy is now illegal.
It isn’t, but burning a qouran while shouting insults at arabs and africans is. He’s just a plain old racist.
Translated quote from the court, from Sveriges Television
According to the court’s chief counsel, Nicklas Söderberg, the judgment does not mean that it is forbidden to publicly express criticism of, for example, Islam or Muslims, as long as you do so in a factual discussion.
“It’s not standing at a rest stop and talking for three hours about the Prophet Muhammad’s imaginary sex habits and wrapping a Koran in bacon, playing football on it, spitting on it, blowing your nose on it,” says the court’s chairman Nicklas Söderberg.
In these cases, there was no such discussion. Instead, the statements were simply aimed at insulting and offending Muslims.