Summary
A Swedish court sentenced far-right activist Rasmus Paludan to four months in jail for inciting hatred against Muslims after he burned a Quran at two protests in Malmo in 2022.
The court ruled that Paludan’s remarks and actions went beyond permissible criticism of Islam, aiming instead to insult and defame Muslims, Arabs, and Africans. Paludan, a dual citizen of Sweden and Denmark, plans to appeal the verdict.
His Quran burnings previously strained Sweden’s relations with Turkey, complicating Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
I’m probably repeating what everyone else said, but let me put it this way: If I, an Egyptian, go to a Christian neighborhood and burn the cross while saying all Christians should be deported, that’d probably he hate speech. If I went to a Jewish neighborhood (back when those existed here) and did the same, I’d be straight up calling for a pogrom. That’s what you’re looking at here.