Sweden charges Holy Quran desecrators with 'hate crime'

STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men with inciting ethnic hatred over several protests involving the desecration of Holy Quran in 2023, which sparked widespread outrage in Muslim countries.

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi, and co-protester Salwan Najem were charged with "agitation against an ethnic group".

"Both men are prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Quran in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith," senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio said in a statement.

According to the charge sheet, the duo desecrated the Quran, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims — in one case outside a Stockholm mosque.

"In my opinion, the men's statements and actions fall under the provisions on agitation against an ethnic or national group and it is important that this matter is tried in court," the prosecutor added.

Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were strained by the pair's protests.

Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.