Sweden has chosen its path. It has decided to abandon the freedom of expression and embrace Sharia blasphemy laws. More of Sharia will follow. Sweden has reached the end of its history as a free society.
“Salwan Najem convicted of incitement against a group of people after Koran burnings in Stockholm,” translated from “Salwan Najem döms för hets mot folkgrupp efter koranbränningar i Stockholm,” SVT Nyheter, February 3, 2025 (thanks to D.):
Salwan Najem convicted of incitement against a group of people after statements made at several Koran burnings in different places in Stockholm in 2023. Salwan Momika was also charged in the case, but the charges against him were dropped after he was shot to death last week. According to Najem’s lawyer, the verdict will be appealed.
Salwan Najem was charged after statements he made in connection with burning Korans in different places in Stockholm on four occasions in the summer of 2023 together with Salwan Momika.
He is now sentenced to a suspended sentence and daily fines. The court believes that even if the motive was to criticize the religion of Islam, the actions have clearly exceeded what can be considered objective debate and criticism.
Najem himself denies the crime and believes that his statements constitute criticism of religion, which is protected by freedom of expression.
“There is a lot of room within the framework of freedom of expression to be critical of a religion in a factual and valid debate. At the same time, expressing one’s opinion about religion does not give a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief,” says the presiding judge in the case, Judge Göran Lundahl, in a press release.
Freedom of expression expert Nils Funcke believes that there are still question marks about how far freedom of expression extends.
“If you look at what Momika and Najem say in the transcription found in the preliminary investigation, I would say that Najem speaks about the Koran, about Muhammad and about the religion of Islam, and I think that falls within a broad freedom of expression. I think that Najem and Momika’s statements are lumped together and thus Najem is blamed for what Momika said.”
According to Mark Safaryan, Salwan Najem’s lawyer, the verdict will be appealed.
“My client is not feeling well, partly because of what has happened to Momika and now also because he has been convicted. He has difficulty accepting the verdict because he does not stand behind the statements that Momika has made. They have not synchronized what they are going to say.”
Couldn’t he have predicted that Momika would make these statements?
“No, and he has assumed that the demonstration permits gave them permission to do this.”
Salwan Najem both participated in the Koran burnings and submitted several of the applications to the police. He immigrated from Iraq in 1998 and became a Swedish citizen in June 2005.
The Koran burnings resulted in a diplomatic crisis and contributed to a worsening security situation for Sweden.
Salwan Momika was also charged, but was shot dead on Wednesday evening. The prosecutor therefore dropped the charges against Momika.
