Sweden stands at an “heightened threat” of terror attacks after recent Quran burnings in the country sparked widespread protests across the Muslim world, the homeland security service said on Wednesday.
The agency, known by its acronym SAPO, said the burning and desecration of religious books in Sweden and ongoing disinformation campaigns on social media and elsewhere have negatively affected the country’s reputation.
A recent series of public desecrations of the Koran by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Sweden and most recently in neighboring Denmark has sparked anger in many Muslim countries and among Muslim communities in the Nordic countries.
There is no law in Sweden that specifically prohibits burning or desecrating the Quran or other religious texts.
The image of Sweden has changed “from a tolerant country to one hostile to Islam and Muslims, where attacks against Muslims are sanctioned by the state and where Muslim children can be abducted by social services,” SAPO said in a statement.
This threatens to fuel threats against Sweden “from individuals within the violent Islamic milieu,” the agency said, adding that Sweden’s current risk of terrorism remains at an elevated level of three on a five-point scale.
Protesters burn the Swedish flag during a protest against the insult to the Quran in Stockholm, in Tehran, Iran, July 21, 2023
Yemenis take part in a protest against the burning of Islam’s holy book, the Koan, in Sweden and Denmark, on July 24, 2023 in Sana’a, Yemen
Kashmiri Shiite Muslims protest the burning of the Quran in Sweden
Protesters chant slogans against Sweden in front of the country’s embassy in Tehran, Iran
“It’s a serious situation we’re in,” Susanna Trehorning, SAPO’s deputy counter-terrorism chief, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
“It is an increased threat and an attack can take place in the context of an increased threat.”
Like many Western countries, Sweden has no blasphemy laws.
The right to hold public demonstrations is strong in Sweden and protected by the constitution. The blasphemy laws were abolished in the 1970s.
Police generally authorize public gatherings based on whether they believe an event can be held without major disruption or risk to public safety.
Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said Wednesday that the violations of the Quran have made Sweden the target of malicious influence campaigns “by states and state-like actors aimed at harming Swedish interests and ultimately Swedish citizens.”
He refuted claims that the Swedish government is allowing people to burn sacred texts of Islam or other religious books, which is “factually incorrect.”
A contestant lifts a copy of the Quran in response to the burning of a copy of Islam’s holy book in Sweden, as Iraqi Shiites in costumes reenact the events of Ashura, a ten-day period during the Muslim month of Muharram to commemorate and to commemorate. mourn the seventh-century assassination of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in the al-Kifah district of central Baghdad on July 25, 2023
Yemenis take part in a protest against the burning of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, in Sweden and Denmark, on July 24, 2023 in Sana’a, Yemen
Protesters protest the burning of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, in Yemen’s Huthi-occupied capital Sanaa on July 24, 2023.
“No state permits are issued for incineration,” he told reporters at a news conference.
“The state guarantees the right to freedom of expression, but does not approve political messages. Sweden has no tradition of burning holy scriptures.
‘On the contrary. Sweden is a secular country where freedom of religion is a cornerstone and where there is respect for different faiths.’
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned religious book desecration in Sweden and Denmark in a statement on Wednesday, saying the acts “by individual provocateurs only benefit those who want to divide us and our societies.”
‘Respect for diversity is a core value of the European Union. This includes respect for other religious communities,” said the EU’s top diplomat.
“The desecration of the Qur’an, or of any other book considered sacred, is insulting, disrespectful and a clear provocation.
Expressions of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance have no place in the European Union.’