Denmark will punish desecration of a holy e-book with as much as two years in jail beneath a brand new regulation
Denmark’s parliament handed a regulation prohibiting the desecration of holy texts such because the Quran, Torah, and Bible on Thursday following a contentious debate. Violators will resist two years in jail or fines.
The laws makes it a criminal offense “to inappropriately deal with, publicly or with the intention of dissemination in a wider circle, a writing with important non secular significance for a spiritual neighborhood or an object that seems as such,” together with by burning, soiling, trampling on, or reducing up such scripture. It consists of an exception for artworks during which the desecration makes up “a minor half.”
Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard hailed the measure as a much-needed “safety in opposition to the systematic desecrations we’ve seen for a very long time,” declaring, “We should defend the safety of Denmark and Danes” in an announcement to the Folketing (Parliament) final month.
Lawmakers from each left- and right-wing events got here collectively to demand a referendum on the matter, excoriating each the measure and the three-party coalition that had launched it whereas insisting the “cowards” behind the laws step as much as defend it in the course of the four-hour debate that preceded the 94-77 vote.
“Does Iran change its laws as a result of Denmark feels offended by one thing an Iranian might do? Does Pakistan? Does Saudi Arabia? The reply is not any,” leftist Socialist Folks’s Occasion consultant Karina Lorentzen requested rhetorically in an announcement following the invoice’s passage.
Proper-wing Denmark Democrats consultant Inger Stojberg concurred that the regulation constituted a capitulation to Islam and to nations that “don’t share [our] set of values,” warning that “historical past will decide us harshly for this and with good motive.”
The brand new measure should be signed by Queen Margrethe to take impact, a formality anticipated later this month.
Danish police recorded over 500 protests involving some type of Quran desecration between July and November, in line with Hummelgaard. The demonstrations befell in entrance of mosques, embassies of Muslim nations, and in immigrant neighborhoods, igniting a world wave of protests and diplomatic penalties.
Türkiye summoned the Danish ambassador in January, accusing Copenhagen of allowing a “provocative act which clearly constitutes a hate crime” and describing its perspective as “unacceptable.” It warned that related protests in neighboring Sweden had critically jeopardized that nation’s probabilities of NATO accession.
The controversial ban on Quran-burning, beforehand seen as a legally protected freedom of expression, was initially proposed in July as an enlargement of an current ban on burning international flags.
Whereas the federal government insisted it had no intention of impinging on freedom of expression, it cautioned that the protesters’ actions might have “important penalties” for Danish safety. The intelligence company PET warned that the inflammatory demonstrations had intensified the specter of terrorism.
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