Pak Sahafat – The former special reporter of the United Nations announced that the recent spate of desecrations of the Quran, Islam’s holiest book, in Sweden and Denmark “reflects a broader right-wing anti-immigrant, anti-non-European bias that has been supported by the political mainstream.”
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency, Richard Falk, retired professor of international law at Princeton University, said in a video interview: There is no legal purpose in allowing groups to burn religious scriptures. In my opinion, this work has no constructive purpose. I think there are strong reasons to ban (such practices).
Regarding the line between freedom of speech and actions that may be considered offensive to religious beliefs, Falk said that while these actions can be considered under the umbrella of “freedom of speech,” in some cases they can be associated with “the formation of violent behavior.”
Regarding the restriction of freedom of speech in cases that threaten security, he said: In cases where freedom of speech is a threat to security, it can be limited.
He said that various European countries “compared to the United States have a more limited view of freedom of speech and are more concerned about preventing hate crimes.”
“Therefore, this type of action can be banned under the broad hate speech restrictions that exist in, for example, the UK and Germany,” he explained.
Falk continued: Burning the Koran can be considered “in the area of ​​hate speech”, but this issue also depends on the history of a specific country or region.
Read more:
He continued that countries can pass laws to prevent attacks on holy books and emphasized that these laws will have significant international support at this stage.
He said: “There is a recent UN resolution on insulting the holy books.” This resolution says that burning or destroying holy books is against international law.
On August 3rd, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning any violence against holy books and their desecration as a violation of international law.
On July 12, the United Nations Human Rights Council, by approving the resolution proposed by the Islamic countries, condemned the insult to the Qur’an despite the opposition of the Western countries, and demanded that the High Commissioner for Human Rights investigate this issue and report.
The resolution called for the condemnation of attacks on the Holy Quran, describing them as “acts of religious hatred”.
In this resolution, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other mechanisms of the Human Rights Council have been asked to provide the necessary recommendations to countries to eliminate these legal gaps, considering the legal gaps in the criminalization of insulting religions.
In addition, in this resolution, it is requested to hold meetings to examine this issue in the March and June 2024 meetings of the Human Rights Council.
America, England and Belgium on behalf of the European Union opposed the adoption of this resolution, but the Human Rights Council approved it with a decisive vote.
The resolution of the United Nations General Assembly was approved following the numerous desecrations of the Holy Quran in Sweden and Denmark and the anger and reaction of the governments and Muslim nations of the world towards these insults.