Quran Desecration Trial in Denmark Slated for Friday
This Friday, many eyes will be on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, for a historic trial: Two men are accused of "improper treatment of a religious scripture."
They are accused of having burned a copy of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam, in front of an audience at a folk festival in June 2024, as well as livestreaming this on the social platform Facebook. The Danish public prosecutors have so far not released any details about the identity of the two defendants, nor the exact course of events. They have, however, said that a verdict is expected on the same day.
The trial, which will take place in Bornholm's largest town Ronne, is the first of its kind since a new law that criminalizes the "inappropriate treatment" of religious scripture, including the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah among others, came into force on December 7, 2023.
"Inappropriate treatment" includes defiling, tearing and trampling religious texts, as well as burning them. Penalties range from fines to two years' imprisonment depending on the severity of the charges.
The law was introduced amid international tension caused by a series of Quran burnings in Denmark. In July 2023, in Copenhagen, several members of the nationalist and right-wing populist group called "Danish Patriots" set fire to the holy book outside the embassies of countries with Muslim majorities, such as Iraq. There were many other cases of individuals burning Qurans to be provocative. Between July and October 2023 alone, the Danish police counted more than 480 cases in which religious books or national flags, such as the Iraqi flag, were burned.
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The provocative acts triggered outrage amid many in the Muslim world and led to diplomatic incidents. There were angry protests outside the Danish embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and a Danish aid organization in Iraq was attacked.
The new law in Denmark was supposed to prevent people from burning religious texts as a provocation, and to strengthen national security. Peter Hummelgaard, who served as justice minister at the time, said that the Quran burnings did cause "harm to Denmark and its interests."
But the law was not uncontroversial, and its introduction was preceded by a four-hour debate in parliament. Critics, which included certain Danish intellectuals and members of the opposition, feared that it would curtail freedom of expression. Others claimed that the government had ulterior motives and wanted to secure Muslim votes for Denmark's candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the period 2025 to 2026.
There have been similar debates in Sweden, where it is still not illegal to burn the Quran. Some Swedish courts have yet to decide whether such an act constitutes the crime of incitement to hatred, or is a permissible form of criticizing religion.
However, in the case of the right-wing Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan, the founder of the Danish far-right, anti-Islam party Stram Kurs, a court found him guilty of incitement to hatred and handed him a four-month prison sentence after he repeatedly burned a Quran in both Denmark and Sweden.
Source: DW
