Public burning of the Koran, Bible and Torah will be banned in Denmark

The Danish authorities will introduce criminal liability for public burning or other desecration of holy books, including the Koran, the Bible and the Torah. This was announced by the Minister of Justice of the country, Peter Hummelhord, on Friday. The decision was made after several incidents involving the burning of the Koran in Denmark, which caused violent protests in Muslim countries.

According to the minister, such actions will be punishable by up to two years in prison. He called actions with the desecration of sacred books “harassment acts that harm the security of Danes both abroad and inside the country.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Lars Rasmussen, approved the intentions of the Ministry of Justice.

Now in Denmark there is no responsibility for anti-religious statements and actions. The previously existing criminal article on blasphemy was abolished by the parliament in 2017. Therefore, even a public event reported to the police, during which it is planned to desecrate any sacred object, cannot be prohibited by law.

Hummelhord emphasized that it is not about restricting freedom of thought and expression. According to him, the new law should accustom citizens to more civilized ways of expressing their opinions.

• In recent months, several actions were held in Denmark and neighboring Sweden, the participants of which burned the Koran – the holy book of Muslims – in front of the embassies of Muslim countries. The organizers of these actions belong to far-right nationalist movements.
• These incidents caused mass protests in Muslim states and an extremely negative reaction at the diplomatic level. In particular, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that if Sweden does not put an end to such actions, Turkey may not approve Sweden’s accession to NATO.