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02-08-2023
STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s government has no plans to make sweeping changes to freedom of speech laws but repeated it would look into measures that would allow police to stop the burning of holy books in public if there was a clear threat to national security.
“We stand up for the Swedish freedom of speech,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference on Tuesday.
Sweden and Denmark have seen a string of protests in recent weeks in which copies of the Quran were burned, or otherwise damaged, prompting outrage in Muslim countries and demands that the Nordic governments put a stop to the incidents of burning.
More Quran burning, permitted under freedom of speech laws, took place on Monday as the governments of both countries said they were examining ways to legally limit such acts in a bid to de-escalate tensions.
In Denmark, the Security and Intelligence Service (PET) believes the incidents of Quran burning have led to an elevated risk of attacks, PET told public broadcaster DR late on Monday.
Also on Monday, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) convened an extraordinary session to discuss the recent developments where it strongly condemned the Quran burning.
It also said in a statement after the meeting ended that it called upon member states to take appropriate action, whether political or economic, in countries where the Quran is being desecrated.
After the meeting, the Danish and Swedish foreign ministers separately wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that they would continue their dialogue with the OIC.
Muslim nations including Iran and Pakistan say the desecration of the holy Quran amounts to an incitement of violence and have called for accountability after a series of stunts in Sweden caused a backlash around the world.
A motion filed at the United Nations human rights body on Tuesday, in response to the latest incident last month, calls on countries to review their laws and plug gaps that may “impede the prevention and prosecution of acts and advocacy of religious hatred”.
The debate has highlighted rifts in the UN Human Rights Council between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Western members concerned about the motion’s implications for free speech as well as challenges posed to long-held practices in rights protection. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
