Sweden Grants Permission To Burn Quran Outside Mosque

The authorities on Wednesday granted permission to burn Quran outside Stockholm's main mosque in Sweden. The development comes after the court's intervention.

The burning is coinciding with Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar. Although the police had turned down applications for anti-Quran demonstrations in the past, the country's courts have consistently overturned those decisions, asserting that they encroached upon the safeguarded freedom of speech.

However, the protest is likely to have the participation of only two people including the organiser Salwan Momika.

In an interview recently, Momika claimed that he was an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban the Quran.

However, this development is likely to impact the chances of joining NATO, due to objections from Turkey. Even the police, In its permit for Wednesday's demonstration, noted that this inflammatory protest "may have foreign policy consequences" although the burning of the Quran might not pose security risks.

"The security risks and consequences that the authorities can see connected to a Quran burning are not of such a nature that according to the current law they give grounds for a decision to reject a request for a general gathering," the court said.

"Police authorities, therefore, give you permission for the requested gathering," it added.

In January, Turkey had condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran during a protest in Sweden. "Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of 'freedom of expression' is completely unacceptable," it had said.

In fact, Rasmus Paludan, a politician from the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, had set a copy of the Quran on fire outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

But he reportedly has no role in the latest protest.

Being a member of Nato allows Turkey to block another country from joining the intergovernmental military alliance. Sweden and Finland both applied to join Nato after Russia invaded Ukraine.