Sweden charged a Swedish-Danish right-wing activist with inciting ethnic hatred by desecrating and burning Holy Quran in 2022.
Rasmus Paludan, who has been convicted for racist abuse in the past, provoked rioting in Sweden in 2022 when he went on a tour of the country.
Prosecutors charged him with agitation against an ethnic group over a protest in the city of Malmo in April 2022 where he desecrated and set fire to the holy book, while making disparaging comments about Muslims, according to the charge sheet.
They also charged him with a second count of the same offence over another incident where he made derogatory remarks about Arabs and Africans.
Paludan later stoked international controversy when he desecrated Holy Quran outside Turkey’s embassy in the Swedish capital in January 2023.
Read more: Denmark makes Quran desecration a crime in landmark ban
The incident strained relations between the country at a time when Turkey was holding up Sweden’s NATO bid.
Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were further strained by a slew of protests staged by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika — which also included desecrations– over the summer of 2023.
The Swedish government condemned the desecrations while noting the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.
In October 2023, a Swedish court convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred with a 2020 desecration, the first time the country’s court system had tried the charge.
