Swedish Freedom of Expression

Indian Muslims protesting in Sweden    Associated Press

"In Sweden, we have the freedom of expression."

"We also respect people who have a different opinion and the fact that it may hurt some feelings."

"We have to look at the law. That is what we do."

Helsingborg Sweden local police Chief, Mattias Sigfriedsson 

"[The Swedish government] strongly rejects the Islamophobic act committed by individuals in Sweden."

"[The burning of a Koran] in no way reflects the opinions of the Swedish Government."

Swedish Government statement

"I think it is exceptional and extremely inappropriate for the government ... to criticize an individual demonstration carried out by a person who, by all accounts, has stayed within the bounds of the law, who has only used his constitutional freedom of expression."

Nils Funcke, Swedish freedom of speech advocate

"It is a very serious situation for Sweden."

"We have foreign powers, like Russia for example, which spread information in Arabic about this."

"We have Turkey, which is using it for leverage in the NATO debate."

Magnus Ranstorp, terrorism expert, strategic adviser, Center for Societal Security, Swedish Defense University

 

"In general, the Swedish Security Service sees how authoritarian states like Russia use proxies in order to destabilize or influence Swedish public opinion and decision-making."

Swedish Security Service

Salwan Momika protesting outside a Stockholm mosque on 28 June to ‘express [his] opinion about the Qur’an’. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

Sweden is in a diplomatic and political uproar in the wake of a string of requests for approval of protests involving the destruction of sacred religious texts after an Iraqi Christian immigrant burned a Koran outside a Stockholm mosque during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The man had decided to destroy a copy of Islam's scriptures in a display of his feelings about the Qur'an. Sweden is nominally protestant, but it is a secular society which believes in freedom of expression.

The event has dragged Sweden into a greater issue complicating its application to join NATO, a decision it took following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the credible belief that it might be next. Any country wishing to join the military alliance can do so only with the unanimous consent of NATO's member nations. And thus far, both Hungary for reasons of its own have refused Sweden's request, and Turkey for stated reasons of charging Sweden with sheltering Kurds which Turkey refers to as terrorists, Turkey's sworn enemies.

 

Condemnation in response to the copy of a Koran being destroyed, were immediate and widespread in the Muslim world. A debate is now swirling in Sweden regarding limits of Freedom of Speech, with Swedish police having received new requests by individuals who would like to burn the Qur'an, as well as the Jewish Torah and the Christian bible. Bans are being urged on Sweden by Muslim countries, with Pakistan calling for a daylong protest in defence of the sanctity of the Koran.

The irony here is that in Pakistan there is a standing death sentence in law against any form of blasphemy against Islam, its Prophet or Allah. Christians have been stoned and clubbed to death by hordes of raging Muslims in Pakistan as punishment for insulting Islam. Many Swedes insist that even offensive criticism of religion should be permissible in the Scandinavian Lutheran nation, and any notion of re-introducing blasphemy laws should be resisted.

When police in Stockholm earlier in the year attempted to stop Qur'an-burning protests they were overruled by a court stating such actions were protected by Swedish law. It was that decision which directed police to allow last week's protest where a Christian from Iraq burned the Qur'an on an important Muslim holiday leading Muslim leaders in Sweden to deplore the incident.

In Baghdad, the Swedish Embassy was stormed by angry protesters, while the Organization for Islamic Cooperation condemned and criticized Swedish authorities for allowing the Koran to be burned. Pakistan has asked the U.N. Human Rights Council to schedule a special session on the issue. The current controversy is reminiscent of the fury faced by Denmark in 2006 after publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that led to Danish consulates and embassies being torched, with cartoonists facing death threats.

Now, suddenly Sweden has taken placatory steps toward Turkey in its decision to charge a Kurdish man, Yahya Gungnor, with terrorist financing of the Kurdish PKK. The PKK is Turkey's avowed enemy and Turkey returns the feelings with emphatic fury. The Kurdish man was sentenced by the Stockholm District Court to four-and-a-half years in prison for the crime of financially supporting the PKK. After his prison term he is to be expelled and banned from returning to Sweden. 

Turkey will be pleased.

Demonstration front of the Swedish Embassy, Tehran, Iran    Associated Press