Summary
A Stockholm court convicted Salwan Najem of incitement against an ethnic group for his role in Qur’an burnings in 2023, sentencing him to a fine and suspended sentence.
His co-defendant, Salwan Momika, was shot dead last week, sparking concerns of foreign involvement.
The protests strained Sweden’s relations with Muslim countries and fueled debate over free speech limits.
The government had considered banning Qur’an burnings but is no longer planning immediate action. Sweden joined NATO in March 2024, partly fearing diplomatic fallout over the burnings could affect its bid.
I firmly believe everyone should have the right to burn whatever symbol they want, be it religious, national, or otherwise.
After the US invaded Iraq in 2003, a friend and I burned an American flag to express our anger at being lied to and our disagreement with going to war in general. People we knew well came by and called us traitors, which we expected, though it was still intense. To us, burning the flag did exactly what we wanted it to. It shocked people into actively coming up to us and asking us why we were doing something so extreme. Our answer was “because it’s often the only way we can get people like you to pay attention and engage with us. You need to be shocked into realizing what we’re doing is actually patriotic.” We would then often get into a serious discussion about 9/11, Saddam Hussein, and WMDs and people would leave more or less agreeing with us, but still angry about the flag. Mission accomplished.
I can understand that the Quran might be a bit different, but it’s still just a book that holds significance for some people and not for others. If someone’s faith can be that shaken by such a simple thing, then I think they might have larger issues.