After a sequence of Quran burnings in Scandinavia brought on uproar in Muslim communities, Denmark on Thursday banned the “improper treating” of non secular texts in public.
Beneath a brand new regulation handed by Parliament, these discovered responsible of the crime will be fined or sentenced to as much as two years in jail.
“Quran burnings should be stopped,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, who introduced the regulation, mentioned on Instagram on Thursday. “We should defend the safety of Denmark and the Danes.”
Desecration of the Quran is now banned each within the public house and in non-public if the act is recorded and distributed.
Like Sweden, Denmark in current months has struggled to steadiness a deep-rooted dedication to free speech towards the anger and outrage the burnings have brought on in Muslim-majority nations, whose governments have condemned the acts. Governments in each Sweden and Denmark have mentioned that the chance of terrorist assaults has risen in current months.
With anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment widespread, there have been greater than 500 demonstrations in Denmark in current months, Mr. Hummelgaard mentioned, together with some the place the Quran was burned.
A small group of nationalists in Denmark who filmed themselves burning what they mentioned was a Quran, and no less than two public desecrations of the Quran in Sweden, provoked assaults on the nations’ embassies in Iraq and led to their diplomats being summoned by Iranian authorities.
The Danish authorities mentioned that the burnings put the nation in a troublesome diplomatic scenario, and that the federal government couldn’t simply sit idle. They referred to as the regulation a focused intervention meant to guard the safety of Danes overseas and at dwelling.
“The terrorist menace degree towards Denmark is alarmingly excessive,” mentioned a spokesman for the Moderates get together, which is a part of the coalition authorities. “This regulation is launched out of necessity, not out of want.”
However the measure was sharply criticized by opponents, together with the right-wing Liberal Alliance get together. Steffen Larsen, a Liberal Alliance lawmaker, mentioned throughout a heated debate in Parliament on Thursday that it was a product of “political correctness” and that it was “designed to restrain the liberty of speech and the creative freedom.”
The measure, Mr. Larsen mentioned, is “nothing to be pleased with.”
Nina Palesa Bonde, a deputy decide on the Copenhagen District Court docket, additionally criticized the ban, arguing on social media that it protected a textual content that “is used as a demise sentence for girls, Jews, homosexuals in lots of nations.”
Mr. Hummelgaard supplied assurances that the brand new regulation doesn’t forbid criticism of faith or satirical drawings. However he mentioned that whereas a broad house must be allowed for non secular criticism, “destroying books shouldn’t be a really clever approach to criticize one thing you don’t like.”
The Swedish authorities can be investigating methods to forestall the burning of the Quran, together with by increasing an current public order regulation that might permit the police to disclaim an indication allow on the grounds that it may pose a menace to Sweden’s safety, mentioned Nils Funcke, a free speech knowledgeable primarily based in Stockholm.
Christina Anderson contributed reporting.
