Denmark passes law banning Quran burning

The Danish Parliament has adopted a law criminalising “inappropriate treatment” of texts with important religious significance. That means that they have effectively banned the burning of the Quran.

The move comes after a number of examples of people ‘desecrating’ the holy book of Islam which led to tensions between the nation and several Muslim countries over the summer.

After a debate which went on for almost four hours, the law was adopted on its third reading by 94 of the 179 members of Parliament.

It will now be prohibited to publicly burn, defile or kick any religious texts, with the aim of widely disseminating images of desecration. It will also be forbidden to tear, cut or stab the books.

Any offender found guilty of the crime will be liable to a sentence of two years imprisonment.

Denmark and its neighbour Sweden have recently caused anger within Muslim countries. In Iraq, for example, hundreds of demonstrators supporting the influential religious leader Moqtada al-Sadr attempted to march towards the Danish embassy in Baghdad at the end of July.

After this unrest, the Nordic nation briefly tightened its border controls, before resuming normal service on 22 August.