Danish Man Who Burned Quran Is Prosecuted for Blasphemy
, and that everyone should take a joke." Mr. Mouritsen, noting the 1997 decision not to prosecute, asked, "Why should this all of a sudden be an issue, when everybody agrees
that the blasphemy law is a thing of the past?" The decision to press charges was condemned by the right-wing, anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which said it would push to rescind the blasphemy law. that Muslims should be able to stand up to ridicule as much as Christians would routinely put up with
The video was posted on Dec. 27, 2015, to a Facebook group called "Yes to Freedom — No to Islam." Above the video, shared 415 times, were the words:
"Consider your neighbor, it stinks when it burns." One commenter wrote: "If I had the Quran I’d also burn it, that’s the only thing it’s good for.
23, 2017
A 42-year-old man who burned a Quran and posted a video of it on Facebook has been charged with blasphemy in Denmark, a striking decision by prosecutors in a country
that is largely secular but has grappled with the role of Islam in public life.
The decision stunned many Danes: No one has been convicted of blasphemy in Denmark since 1946,
and the country has a long tradition of free speech; burning the flag is not a punishable crime.
The defendant — his true name is still not clear and under Danish law cannot be released unless he is convicted — was charged last year with hate speech,
but the indictment was later changed to blasphemy, a decision prosecutors announced on Wednesday.
"Therefore, it’s an act of self-defense to burn a book
that in such a way incites war and violence." Mr. Paludan also noted that in 1997, a Danish artist burned a copy of the Bible on a news show by a state broadcaster but was not charged.