2023-07-15 16:07:46
He publicly planned during a demonstration in Stockholm to burn a torah and a bible. On Saturday, Ahmad A., a 32-year-old Muslim, announced that he was abandoning his project, explaining that his intention was in fact to denounce those who burn sacred books such as the Koran.
The Swedish police had granted him Friday the authorization to organize this demonstration in front of the embassy of Israel, a decision which had been condemned by the Hebrew State and various religious organizations. Ahmad A. explained to the press that his intention was to criticize people who have burned Korans in Sweden in recent months, which Swedish law does not prohibit. “It is a response to people who burn the Koran. I want to show that freedom of expression has limits that must be taken into account,” explained the 32-year-old Swedish resident of Syrian origin.
“What I wanted to show is that it’s not right to do it”
“I want to show that we have to respect each other, we live in the same society. If I burn the Torah, another the Bible, one last the Koran, there will be war here… What I wanted to show is that it is not good to do so”, he added.
“It is against the Koran to burn (a holy book) and I will not burn. No one should do it, ”said the 30-year-old. The small demonstration dispersed peacefully, about fifty meters from the Israeli embassy on an opulent avenue in central Stockholm. Even if the Swedish police recalled that the authorization to demonstrate granted was not a formal authorization to burn a sacred book, there is no Swedish law against blasphemy prohibiting the burning of a Koran, a Torah or a Bible.
recently burned qurans
A first burning of the Koran took place in January, committed by the Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan, to denounce Swedish membership of NATO and negotiations with Turkey to let Sweden join the ‘alliance. On June 28, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden burned a few pages of a copy of the Koran in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm during the day of Eid al-Adha, a holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world.
The two events had triggered a series of condemnations in the Muslim world.
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