Denmark moves to adopt law to ban Quran burning
The Danish government is set to propose a law that would make the desecration of holy books illegal, according to foreign media reports.
This move comes after demonstrations against recent public burnings of the Quran in Denmark and Sweden, the European TV news network Euronews reported on Friday.
Euronews said that Denmark has been viewed as a country that facilitates insult and denigration of the cultures, religions, and traditions of other countries.
The government’s proposal is to extend Denmark’s existing ban on burning foreign flags by also "prohibiting improper treatment of objects of significant religious significance to a religious community,” according to Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard. "The bill will make it punishable, for example, to burn the Quran or the Bible in public. It will only aim at actions in a public place or with the intention of spreading in a wider circle."
Denmark’s government has repeatedly distanced itself from the desecrations but has insisted that freedom of expression is one of the most important values in Danish society. It said that this value would not be affected by the proposed law.
In a related development, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers on July 31, 2023, to take proper measures against the desecration of the holy Quran, whose copies were repeatedly burnt in Sweden and Denmark at different times in recent weeks. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian presented some proposals to the OIC virtual meeting on the same day to prevent the repetition of such desecrations.