2023. December 7 – 19:05
After months of debate, the Danish Parliament passed a law making it a crime to burn, soak, trample or cut up any sacred religious text. The decision is based on the fact that in the summer several demonstrations were held in Sweden and Denmark where copies of the Holy Quran were burned or destroyed, which led to an international scandal and diplomatic problems, he writes. guardian.
Following the burning of the Holy Quran, the governments of both countries indicated that they would try to prevent this through legal means, and the Danish Minister of Justice introduced a draft law in August. At the time, Peter Hommelgaard claimed that the burning of the Qur’an, which was protested in many Arab countries and Scandinavia, not only harmed Danish interests, but also endangered the Danish people. The Danish government justified the proposal on security grounds, but since then there have been intense discussions about this proposal in Parliament, and many opposition parties would have called for a referendum on the issue.
Critics of the proposal also accused the government of only wanting to secure its place on the UN Security Council between 2025 and 2026, and before Thursday’s vote, several opposition representatives expressed their dissatisfaction, among other things, with the violation of freedom of expression. According to the Danish government, it will still be possible to criticize religion, so the law will have little impact on freedom of expression. According to the text that was finally approved in a vote on Thursday by 94 votes to 77 no, burning sacred texts would be punishable by a fine and imprisonment of up to two years. In Sweden
