Ahmed A, the man who threatened to burn copies of the Torah and Bible outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, announced on Saturday that he has decided not to desecrate the holy books of Christians and Jews out of respect for other religions. local media.
The man claimed that he had no intention of burning any books, despite the Swedish authorities allowing him to stage a three-person protest; Instead, he threw the lighter on the ground, dw informed of.
The broadcaster said, “I never thought I would burn a book. I am a Muslim, we don’t.” svt The man was quoted as saying that they had gathered for a planned desecration.
The 32-year-old claimed that the main purpose of the protest was to highlight the difference between exercising one’s right to freedom of speech and humiliating other ethnic groups.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog was one of many Israeli officials and Jewish organizations to immediately condemn the Swedish government’s decision to allow the burning of the holy books.
Ahmed, the organizer of the demonstration, clarified that his goal was not to burn holy books, but to condemn those who have recently desecrated the Quran in Sweden, a practice not prohibited by Swedish law.
“This is the answer to those who burn Quran. I want to show that there are limits to freedom of expression that must be taken into account, ”explained the Swedish resident of Syrian origin.
“I want to show that we should respect each other, we live in the same society. If I burn the Torah, someone burns the Bible, someone else burns the Quran, there will be a war here. What I wanted to show is that it is not right to do so,” he said.
The plan to burn the Torah comes just days after another man burned pages of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, which was widely condemned by Muslims around the world. al Arabiya informed of.
Swedish-Danish right-wing extremist Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Quran in January to protest Sweden’s NATO membership application and negotiations with Turkey to allow Sweden to join the alliance.
During the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated on June 28, an Iraqi refugee in Sweden set fire to some pages of the Quran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque.
Following both incidents, the Muslim world issued several condemnations.
Although the Swedish police stressed that permission to protest is not a formal authorization to burn a holy book, there is no law that prevents it.
However, if a demonstration endangers safety or leads to actions or speech that incite racial hatred, the police have the right to stop it.
