Denmark bans burning of Koran

The law was passed after a series of public burnings of the Koran in Scandinavia caused an outcry in Muslim communities.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" >After a series of Koran burnings in Scandinavia caused an outcry among Muslim communities, Denmark on Thursday banned the "inappropriate treatment" of religious texts in public.

Under a new law passed by Parliament, those found guilty of the crime can be fined or sentenced to up to two years of prison.

“We must stop the burning of the Koran,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, who presented the law, said on Instagram on Thursday. "We must protect the security of Denmark and the Danes."

The desecration of the Koran is now prohibited both in public and private spaces if the act is recorded and broadcast. .

Like Sweden, Denmark has struggled in recent months to balance its deep-rooted commitment to freedom of expression with anger and the indignation caused by the fires in Muslim-majority countries, whose governments have condemned these acts. The Swedish and Danish governments have said the risk of terrorist attacks has increased in recent months.

With anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment becoming widespread, there There have been more than 500 protests in Denmark in recent months, Hummelgaard said, including some in which the Koran was burned.

A small group of nationalists in Denmark who filmed themselves burning what they said was a Quran, and at least two public desecrations of the Quran in Sweden, have provoked assaults on embassies of these countries in Iraq and led to the summoning of their diplomats by Iranian authorities.

Danish authorities said the fires placed the country in a difficult diplomatic situation and that the government could not sit idly by. They called the law a targeted intervention designed to protect the security of Danes abroad and at home.

“The terrorist threat level against Denmark is alarming,” said a spokesperson for the Moderates party, which is part of the coalition government. “This law is introduced out of necessity and not out of desire.”

But the measure was strongly criticized by opponents, notably by the right-wing Liberal Alliance party. Steffen Larsen, a Liberal Alliance MP, said during a heated debate in parliament on Thursday that the measure was a product of "political correctness" and was "designed to restrict freedom of expression and freedom artistic."

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The measure, Mr. Larsen said, is "nothing to be proud of."

Nina Palesa Bonde, deputy judge at the Copenhagen District Court, also criticized the ban, arguing on social media that it protected a text that "is used as a death sentence for women, Jews and homosexuals in many countries."

Mr. Hummelgaard assured that the new law does not prohibit criticism of religion or satirical cartoons. But he added that while ample space should be given to religious criticism, "destroying books is not a very smart way to criticize something you don't like." »

The Swedish government is also exploring ways to prevent the burning of the Quran, including expanding an existing public order law that would allow police to refuse permission to demonstrate on the grounds that it could pose a threat to Sweden's security, said Nils Funcke, a Stockholm-based freedom of expression expert.

Christina Anderson contributed reporting.