A Muslim who announced he wanted to burn a Torah and a Bible on Saturday in Stockholm, as a sign of reciprocity following a series of blasphemous acts against the Muslim religion in Sweden, has announced that he will no longer do so in the end and explained his approach.
The 32-year-old had claimed to want to burn a Torah and a Bible and explained that in reality his intention was to expose those who burn holy books like the Koran.
“It is a response to people who burn the Koran. I want to show that freedom of expression has limits that must be taken into account,” explained the 32-year-old Swedish resident of Syrian origin.
The Swedish police had granted him Friday permission to organize his demonstration in front of the Israeli embassy, a decision which had been condemned by the Jewish state and various religious organizations.
In front of reporters, he claimed he wanted to criticize the people who burned the Koran in Sweden and said: “I want to show that we have to respect each other, we live in the same society. If I burn the Torah, another the Bible, one last the Koran, there will be war here… What I wanted to show is that it is not good to do so”.
He added in front of the demonstrators who came to support him that it was against the Koran to burn a sacred book, “no one should do it”.
In recent months, several blasphemous acts against the Muslim religion have taken place in Sweden. Qurans burned by far-right and anti-immigration activists have created a wave of outrage across the Muslim world.
Sweden authorized blasphemous acts in the name of freedom of expression, and after the strong condemnations in the Arab world, in particular with the recall of ambassadors, the Swedish government was forced to come out of its silence.
In June, he denounced “insulting” and “Islamophobic” actions, but ruled out changing the law. The Swedish police, for its part, continues to authorize and ensure the safety of the perpetrators of these acts.