In this file photo taken on January 21, 2023, Swedish-Danish politician Rasmus Paludan, leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, is pictured holding a version of the Qur’an (Quran), the central religious text of Islam, while Stockholm , protesting outside the Turkish embassy in Sweden. , photo credit: AFP
A Swedish court on Tuesday overturned police moves to ban two Koran-burning protests, after five suspected Islamists were arrested on charges of plotting a “terrorist act” at a similar demonstration.
The burning of Islam’s holy book outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm in January angered the Muslim world, sparking weeks of protests and calls for a boycott of Swedish goods and stalling Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
The Stockholm Administrative Court in February overturned a police decision to ban two subsequent Quran-burning protests, saying security risk concerns were not sufficient to limit the right to demonstrate.
Judge Eva-Lotta Hedin said, “The police authority did not have sufficient support for its decision.”
“We believe that our decision was correct,” police spokeswoman Ola Osterling told news agency TT.
Swedish police authorized the January protest organized by Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish activist who has already been convicted of racist abuse.
Paludan sparked riots in Sweden last year when he toured the country and publicly burned copies of the Quran.
Police refused to authorize two other requests by a private individual and an organization to burn Qurans outside the Turkish and Iraqi embassies in Stockholm in February.
Police argued that the January protests had made Sweden “a high priority target for attacks”.
Criticism of burning Quran
Paludan’s Koran burning also damaged Sweden’s relations with Turkey, which took particular offense that the police had authorized the demonstration.
Ankara has blocked Sweden’s NATO bid over what it perceives as Stockholm’s failure to crack down on Kurdish groups it sees as “terrorists”.
Swedish politicians have criticized the Koran burning but have strongly defended the right to freedom of expression.
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental part of a democracy. But what is legal is not fair. For many people the burning of holy books is a very degrading act,” Prime Minister Ulf Christerson said after the January burning.
Sweden’s security service said five suspects were arrested early Tuesday in coordinated raids in the central cities of Eskilstuna, Linköping and Strängnäs for allegedly planning a “terrorist act” involving a reaction to Koran burning.
“The current case is one of several that the Swedish Security Service is working on in relation to high-profile Koran burnings,” said Susanna Trehorning, deputy head of the security service’s counter-terrorism unit.
She said the suspects were linked to international “violent Islamic extremism”.
The security service, however, said it did not believe an attack was imminent.
It added, “The security service often needs to act quickly to avert danger. We cannot wait until a crime has happened before taking action.”