Faced with a risk of diplomatic crisis, the Danish executive tabled a bill prohibiting the burning of objects with religious connotations. This project does not come out of nowhere: after burnings of the Koran by far-right activists, Denmark found itself in the sights of several Muslim countries.
The law will “prohibit the inappropriate treatment of objects having an important religious significance for a religious community”, announced the Minister of Justice, Peter Hummelgaard, during a press briefing.
It’s simple, the government no longer wants these objects to be burned or trampled. “A fundamentally contemptuous and unsympathetic act”, the burning of a Koran “harms Denmark and Danish interests”, continued the Keeper of the Seals.
“We cannot continue to sit idly by”
Denmark and its Swedish neighbor have recently crystallized anger within Muslim countries. In Iraq, for example, hundreds of demonstrators supporting the influential religious leader Moqtada Sadr attempted to march towards the Danish embassy in Baghdad at the end of July.
The new text is to be included in Chapter 12 of the Danish Penal Code, which deals with national security. “This is the heart and the motivation of what we do”, insisted Peter Hummelgaard.
“We cannot continue to sit idly by while a few individuals do everything they can to provoke violent reactions,” he stressed. The legal provision will also apply to desecrations of the Bible, Torah or religious symbols like the crucifix.
freedom darling
The new law will not cover “verbal or written expression” of such gestures, including caricatures, the minister said, saying Denmark continued to assert its strong commitment to freedom of expression despite criticism from some political parties. the opposition who feel that he is neglecting it. The law also applies in a private place if it is with the intention of disseminating these desecrations to a wider audience.
Six years ago, Denmark repealed the offense of blasphemy, a 334-year-old provision that punished public insults to religions.