Two men in Sweden will go on trial after burning the Quran several times during protests last year, which sparked widespread outrage in Muslim countries.
Swedish prosecutors said on Wednesday that Salwan Momika and Salwan Najem committed “offences of agitation against an ethnic or national group” four separate times.
The charges said the two desecrated the Quran, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims, in one case outside a mosque in the capital, Stockholm.
The events in the summer of 2023 angered Muslim leaders, prompted Sweden to tighten security and strained its relations with countries in the Middle East.
“Both men are 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,” Senior Prosecutor Anna Hankkio said in a statement.
“In my opinion, the men’s statements and actions fall under the provisions on agitation against an ethnic or national group, and it is important that this matter is tried in court,” she added.
Evidence against the men was mainly video recordings, Hankkio said.
Najem said he was not in the wrong, his lawyer, Mark Safaryan, told the Reuters news agency.
“The permit granted in connection with the demonstration is covered by my client’s intent. His rights are protected by the Swedish Constitution,” Safaryan said.
Momika, a Christian refugee from Iraq, has said he wanted to protest against the institution of Islam and to ban its holy book.
Sweden’s migration agency has said it wanted to deport Momika due to false information on his application for residency but the order would not be carried out because he was at risk of torture in Iraq.
The burnings prompted large protests in many countries.
In Iraq, protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires in the compound.
As a result of the Quran burnings, the United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution on religious hatred and bigotry with only the United States and the European Union abstaining due to a conflict with their positions on freedom of expression.
Critics have said Quran burnings are a form of free speech that should be protected by law.
This month, prosecutors also charged Swedish-Danish right-wing activist Rasmus Paludan with the same crime over a 2022 Quran burning protest in the southern Swedish city of Malmo.
In neighbouring Denmark, which also saw a spate of Quran burnings last year, legislation was tightened to ban the practice.
