09/15/2023 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a resolution calling on the international community to “prevent and prosecute acts and advocacy of religious hatred that constitute incitement to discrimination, hostility, and violence” after a Quran burning in Sweden caused widespread outrage.
On June 28, 2023, an Iraqi man burned a Quran outside the Stockholm Central Mosque. Local law enforcement had attempted to obstruct other Quran burnings in 2023, but a Swedish court ruled that Swedish law protected such acts of reprobation. Thus, Stockholm police permitted the recent Quran burning to occur, but subsequently charged the man for acting “against an ethnic or national group,” according to Reuters.
The Swedish government itself condemned the Quran burning as an “Islamophobic act.” A U.S. State Department spokesman stated that Washington believes “the demonstration created an environment of fear” that imperils religious liberty while affirming that allowing the act to occur “supports freedom of expression.” ICC reported that Stockholm law enforcement subsequently authorized a request to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. Multiple sources later reported that the planned burning did not occur.
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