Law banning Quran burning in Denmark slammed as ‘return to 1940s’ censorship
Banning the act of burning the Quran, Islam’s central religious text, marks a restriction of freedom of speech unseen in Denmark in decades, according to an MEP.
Anders Vistisen, MEP for the right-wing and nationalist Danish People’s Party, voiced his party’s opposition to the law newly approved by Parliament in Denmark, which makes it illegal to burn religious books in public places.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mr Vistisen claimed his country hadn’t experienced a similar move on freedom of speech since the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany in the 1940s. He said: “We haven’t seen any such attempts to regulate and ban freedom of speech in decades, the general tendency had been to widen the room for freedom of speech, not to make it smaller.”
What makes this legislation even more egregious in Mr Vistisen’s eyes is that “it is a demand that comes from the outside”.
The MEP referred to widespread calls by Muslim countries and associations to ban the practice of publicly burning the Quran as a form of protest – to which the Parliament in Copenhagen “caved in”, he said. Following the many demonstrations in Denmark and Sweden over the past few months involving damaging sacred texts, marches protesting the burning of the Quran were held in countries with a population largely Muslim, including Iraq and Pakistan.
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The Danish Parliament, Folketinget, passed the legislation against burning the Quran earlier this month, at the end of a year which saw a series of public protests led by anti-Islam activists damaging copies of the sacred book.
More than 500 demonstrations during which copies of the Quran or flags were burnt have been registered since July in the Scandinavian nation, according to Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard. He also said: “Such demonstrations can hurt Denmark’s relations to other nations, our interests and ultimately our safety.”
The minister had previously said in August he believed there are “more civilised ways to express one’s views than burning things”.
Also in August, Danish police tightened border controls in fear of revenge attacks.
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Mr Vistisen, however, said using the argument of safety in favour of the legislation was “a little bit silly”.
Referring to the publication in 2005 by a Danish newspaper of cartoons visually depicting Muhammad, which is considered highly blasphemous in most Islamic traditions, he said: “Denmark has a very high terror threat, we know that, ever since the Muhammad cartoons crisis, where the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.”
The terror threat, the MEP also argued, “is not a reason, is not a good argument just to cave in” and live “under the tyranny” of fear.
As also noted by Mr Vistisen, who shared his view on the legislation before Danish police revealed on December 14 it had detained three people on suspicion of preparing terror attacks, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service assesses that the terrorist threat to Denmark is significant. The organisation’s website states the main threat is posed by militant Islamists.
Denmark was shaken by a series of shootings in 2015 believed to have been carried out by a Danish Muslim known to the authorities. The attacks resulted in the death of two people, as well as the alleged perpetrator, and the wounding of five others at a free speech event and a synagogue in Copenhagen.
Mr Vistisen is not alone in protesting the legislation safeguarding copies of the Quran. Inger Stojberg, leader of the party of which the MEP is a member, said last week: “History will judge us harshly for this, and with good reason. What it all comes down to is whether a restriction on freedom of speech is determined by us, or whether it is dictated from the outside.”
Breaking the new law will be punishable by fines or up to two years in prison, the government had previously said upon discussing the legislation.
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