Keeping the Peace

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Prosecutors in Sweden said that two men will go on trial after burning the Muslim holy book the Quran during protests in 2023, causing outrage among the Muslim community and a spike in anti-terror alert levels, Reuters reported.

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi, and alleged accomplice, Salwan Najem, burned the Quran while making derogatory comments on the Muslim faith outside a mosque in Stockholm and at public protests last year. This amounted to “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” according to the prosecutors.

“Both men are (being) prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Quran in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” said Senior Prosecutor Anna Hankkio.

Momika and Najem’s acts were condemned by the Muslim community, who viewed it as a grave offense because it desecrated God’s literal word.

The burnings strained relations between Sweden and Middle Eastern countries, where protests broke out. In Baghdad, Iraq, protesters invaded the Swedish embassy twice in July 2023, Al Jazeera reported.

Najem denied any wrongdoing. “His rights are protected by the Swedish constitution,” his lawyer said.

Momika, who had fled Iraq many years before, said he wanted to criticize Islam as an institution, and ban the Quran. Sweden’s migration authorities recently canceled plans to deport him because he is at risk if returned to Iraq.

The series of Quran burnings and the response from the Muslim community pushed Sweden and Denmark to take action, with Sweden raising its terrorism alert level and Denmark banning the practice.

Critics argued the Scandinavian nations should have considered the burning of the Quran as a form of freedom of expression, as they have in the past.