image: Reuters.com https://tinyurl.com/3h6mjk8s
It’s not often a Swedish administrative law makes international, political news. But when a Stockholm court decided that the police did not have a legal leg to stand on when they denied permission to burn the Koran at two different demonstrations, it did not go unnoticed.
Burning books part II
An administrative court is where a conflict between a state agency and a private person (or business) is decided. In this case, both a private person and an association calling itself “Apallarkerna,” appealed the police’s decision to not allow either of them to burn a Koran in public. The private person wanted to burn a Koran in front of the Iraqi embassy to protest Islam in general. The association thought (perhaps not incorrectly) that burning a Koran in front of Türkiye’s embassy, à la Paludan, was a good way of preventing Sweden from joining Nato.
The police denied both demonstration applications on the grounds that their actions would threaten national security (see this post). However, the court found that according to the way the law is written, national security is not a legal reason for denying permission to hold such a demonstration.
Sweden’s Nato application
This will not do anything to further endear Sweden to Türkiye. In a recent meeting at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Türkiye’s foreign minister even drew a parallel between the court’s decision and Nazi Germany. “The Nazis started by burning books, then they attacked religious gathering places, and then they gathered people in camps and burned them to achieve their ultimate goals. That’s the way these things start” he is reported to have said.
Should it be illegal?
If (or more likely, when) a burning next takes place, Türkiye may not be the only who is seriously upset. A recent DN/Ipsos poll found that 51% of Swedes think that it ought to be illegal to burn holy books like the Koran or the Bible.
In an interview with SvD, former prime minister Carl Bildt said that he was not sure if burning a book was actually a protected right, but that it was complicated. “It is quite obvious that it is not freedom of expression to burn down a mosque. But burning a book, is it freedom of expression? Leave it to the lawyers to draw boundaries, but it is reasonable to think that somewhere there is a limit to what you can burn as part of freedom of expression.”
Others are not so sure it is time to change Sweden’s laws. “Only a few months ago we were proud that we allowed book burning – it was proof of our freedom of expression” Antje Jackelén, Swedish archbishop emeritus, commented. “Then along comes Erdogan, and our Nato negotiations break down, and suddenly we think completely differently. It’s a little meager.”
In the same poll, support for a ban on publishing images that denigrate religious symbols, or a ban on ridiculing religious scriptures in a text, was just under 30%. It is unknown what support there is for a ban on other actions, like putting a glass of wine down on a religious book or otherwise not showing respect. Those actions may or may not go unnoticed in the future.