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The authorities in Sweden repeatedly approve the burning of the Koran. The country is paying a high international price for this. What does that have to do with freedom of speech?
What echo did the outrage about the desecration of the Koran trigger in Sweden?
The outrage and anger in many Islamic countries has sparked a debate in Sweden about the limits of freedom of expression. Many Swedes now see the desecration of the Koran as an unnecessary provocation and want it to be banned. The Islamic community in Stockholm feels provoked, but reacts much less violently to the actions than the Muslims in Iraq and other Islamic countries. Politicians want to keep the ball flat. For example, the government has not yet reacted to the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador to Iraq.
Are the Islamophobic Actions singular occurrences in Sweden or a new development?
It is mostly individuals who apply for the demonstrations, and very different ones at that. The last two actions were registered by two men who, according to media reports, come from Iraq themselves.
According to the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, one of them is a 37-year-old man who came to Sweden from Iraq in 2021 and received a residence permit for three years. It is said to be about a Christian who had to flee Iraq.
As the newspaper continues, citing the immigration authorities, an investigation is now to be carried out into whether the man’s protective status and his residence permit will be revoked. He wanted to burn a Koran in Stockholm in February, but the police had forbidden the action at the time. Two courts have since overturned the ban.
The Swedish law is also at the center of the debate Freedom of speech. What does it mean?
Freedom of expression also has its limits in Sweden, for example when it comes to hate speech. However, criticism of religion is legal, it is part of freedom of expression that one can criticize religions. Whether the burning of a holy book could constitute incitement against an ethnic group has not yet been decided by a court and is therefore unclear. The man who trampled on the Koran on Thursday was also charged with incitement to hatred.
The lawyer Marten Schultz said that ARD, the general opinion among Sweden’s lawyers is that this action does not fulfill the criminal offense of incitement to hatred. Although one of Sweden’s leading legal experts thinks the opposite interpretation is possible, the majority think “that it takes more to be hate speech”.
Why did the law freedom of speech so important in Sweden?
Sweden was the first country in the world to enshrine freedom of the press in law in 1766. That was more than 250 years ago. Being able to express one’s opinion freely has a long tradition. Blasphemy was abolished in 1970. Criticism of religions is also part of freedom of expression – even in an extreme form. On the other hand, the Swedes can withstand a lot: hostilities abroad, turmoil in their own country. Even the path to NATO was endangered by the burning of the Koran for a long time – and still is.
Lawyer Marten Schultz considers freedom of expression in Sweden to be a kind of “state religion” and explains its high value compared to ARD so:
The starting point is that you can say whatever you want, and there must be a motivation for all exceptions. Sweden’s constitution has the strongest protection for freedom of expression …. or: In Sweden’s constitution, freedom of expression has the strongest protection … and that includes saying things that can hurt or often be offensive.
Sweden’s entry into NATO isn’t over yet – are there new worries in Sweden?
The concern is definitely there. Turkey condemned the desecration of the Koran in Stockholm on Thursday. And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stressed in the past that he will not agree to Sweden joining NATO as long as Korans are being burned in Sweden. This had caused great tension in previous burns, when Sweden’s chances of NATO membership had hung by a thread from time to time. On the other hand, at the recent NATO summit in Vilnius, Erdogan promised the country that the Turkish parliament would ratify accession after the summer break.