Sweden Police Give Permit to Koran Burning Near Stockholm Mosque

(Bloomberg) -- Swedish police have given a permit to a man planning to burn a Koran near the main mosque in central Stockholm on Wednesday afternoon, in what could be the first such display since a similar event led to a breakdown in negotiations with Turkey about the Nordic country’s NATO membership.

The permit was granted to a man who has won court appeals after his previous applications for permission to burn the Koran outside of Iraq’s embassy in the Swedish capital were denied by police, broadcaster TV4 reported.

If the event takes place as scheduled outside the main mosque on the Sodermalm island in the city center, it would be the first public act of its kind in Sweden since a Danish-Swedish far-right extremist caused an uproar in Turkey and other Muslim countries by burning a translated copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm in January.

Following that protest, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out supporting Sweden’s bid to enter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Swedish police have on numerous occasions denied permits to people who have said they were planning to burn the book, citing security reasons, but their decisions have been dismissed by administrative courts that have argued public gatherings and demonstrations must be given permission unless they pose an immediate threat to public safety.

Stockholm police have called in reinforcements from other parts of the country to maintain order during the planned protest on Wednesday, TV4 reported.

Sweden Quran burning sparks anger across Muslim world

(BBC News) Several Muslim-majority countries have condemned the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden at a protest.

Salwan Momika, said to be an Iraqi living in Sweden, set fire to a copy of the Muslim text in front of Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday.

Middle Eastern nations including Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt strongly criticised the burning.

And Turkey, a Nato member with a say over whether Sweden gains membership, called it a "despicable act".

Turkey - which was also angered by a Quran burning protest earlier this year - said it was "unacceptable" to allow such "anti-Islamic actions" to take place "under the pretext of freedom of expression".

Muslims consider the Quran the sacred word of God and view any intentional damage or show of disrespect towards it as deeply offensive.

The Quran burning on Wednesday took place as Muslims around the world celebrated the first day of Eid al-Adha, one of the most important festivals in the Muslim calendar.

Swedish police had given Mr Momika a permit for the protest, in accordance with free-speech laws. But later police said the incident was being investigated for incitement of hatred.

The protest sparked anger among other nations too.

Morocco and Jordan have recalled their ambassadors to Stockholm, and Morocco has also summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires in Rabat.

Iraq said the incident was "a reflection of a hateful aggressive spirit that has nothing to do with freedom of expression."

Iran echoed Iraq's criticism, calling the act of burning the Quran "provocative" and "unacceptable", while Egypt described it as a "shameful" act which was especially provocative as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha.

Saudi Arabia - the destination of around 1.8m worshippers on the annual Hajj pilgrimage this week - said "these hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification."

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the Quran burning was "legal but not appropriate".

Plans to burn copies of the Quran have sparked riots in Sweden in recent months.

Police had rejected similar protest applications recently, but courts then ruled that they should be allowed on freedom of expression grounds.

Source: Bloomberg, BBC News, Staff, June 28-29, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW US ON:

CONTACT: [email protected]

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

New execution methods may soon come to Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Next month, the state of Florida will officially be allowed to use new means of executing prisoners on death row — with some caveats. That’s because of a state law (HB 903) that’s set to take effect on July 1, alongside over 120 others. The law actually makes a variety of technical changes to different issues, including prepayment of court costs, statutes of limitations on prisoner lawsuits, and location tracking for inmates. However, one of the more prominent issues tackled by the law is the death penalty. Under prior law, a death sentence carried out in Florida had to be performed via either electrocution or lethal injection. The choice of which was left up to the prisoner being executed.

Inside Japan's secretive execution jails where death row inmates are given minutes notice before facing the noose

From the outside, the Tokyo Detention House looks much like the other tall, austere buildings native to Katsushika City, but its drab facade and tree-lined grounds conceal a far more sinister reality. It is here that Japan's most deplorable criminals are plucked from their cells and hanged underneath fluorescent lights in a cold, bare wood-panelled room. There is a chillingly theatrical element to how the condemned are executed in the East Asian country - the only member of the G7 besides the US that still metes out capital punishment. Shackled prisoners are led past a small gold statue of Kannon, a Buddhist figure associated with compassion, as they enter their sterile execution chamber.

Japan executes 'Twitter killer' who murdered nine in 2017

TOKYO — Japan on Friday executed a man dubbed the "Twitter killer" who murdered and dismembered nine people he met online, in the nation's first enactment of the death penalty since 2022. Takahiro Shiraishi, 34, was hanged for killing his young victims, all but one of whom were women, after contacting them on the social media platform now called X. He had targeted users who posted about taking their own lives, telling them he could help them in their plans, or even die alongside them. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Shiraishi's crimes, carried out in 2017, included "robbery, rape, murder... destruction of a corpse and abandonment of a corpse".

Idaho | Death row inmate who survived execution attempt describes moment he thought he 'was dead'

The execution attempt lasted over an hour There's not many people in the world who can say they've survived an execution, but one man in the US managed exactly that. Thomas Creech has now opened up about the moment he thought he was 'dead' after things went wrong, or very right depending on your point of view, as his lethal injection somehow failed last year. Death Row has long been a source of controversy in the US, with Gregory Hunt selecting an unusual new method of execution in Alabama earlier this month.

Mississippi executes Richard Jordan

Mississippi executes inmate who’s been on death row almost half a century Richard Gerald Jordan, 79, received a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary after being on death row since 1976 Mississippi has executed Richard Gerald Jordan, the state’s longest-serving death row inmate. Jordan, 79, was put to death by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman Wednesday evening, nearly 50 years on from when he kidnapped and killed a bank loan officer’s wife in a violent ransom scheme.

Iran | Executions in Shiraz, Ahvaz, Qom, Zanjan, Arak

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); June 21, 2025: Teimur Pouladvand, Nezam Moradi, Mahmoud Dehghan and Ali Akbar Younesi were executed in a group hanging in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 17 June 2025. One of the men who was on death row for drug-related offences has been identified as Teimur Pouldvand from Aligudarz. He was arrested three years ago.

Saudi Arabia Executes Journalist After 7 Years Behind Bars

Saudi Arabia has executed journalist Turki Al-Jasser after seven years in prison, following accusations of terrorism and treason, which activists say were related to his critical social media posts about the royal family. Human rights groups have condemned the execution, citing it as part of the kingdom’s crackdown on free speech. A prominent Saudi journalist, Turki Al-Jasser, has been executed after spending seven years in prison, The Associated Press reported, citing the Saudi Press Agency. Activists cited by the AP argued that the charges against him were politically motivated, primarily tied to his social media activity.

Inside a Mississippi execution: Clarion Ledger reporter recounts what it was like

The visitation center at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman has no windows, just fluorescent lighting, plastic chairs and tables in a cafeteria-style room. I could technically step outside, but only through a single entrance and doing so meant going through the full security screening all over again — it didn’t feel worth it. A few friendly prison staff walked around, quietly watching us. The Wi-Fi cut in and out. All the while, I returned to the thought I was there to watch someone die.

Florida executes Thomas Gudinas

Man executed for raping, killing Florida woman outside bar A man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening. Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, following decades on death row for the 1994 killing of Michelle McGrath. His execution proceeded as scheduled after last-day appeals were denied. DOC spokesperson Ted Veerman reported that Gudinas woke up at 4:45 a.m. His last meal was a pepperoni pizza, fries, and a soda. He had one visitor today—his mother. When asked about how the DOC staff is handling the pace of executions, Veerman said the “professional” staff is doing a “fantastic job.” When the curtain to the execution room opened at 6.00pm, Gudinas was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his left arm. Then, after the warden got off the phone with the governor’s office, he asked Gudinas whether he wanted to make a last statement. Although Gudinas’s words were inau...

Woman who watched nearly 300 executions explained moment she had to give it up

Michelle Lyons' job wasn't for the fainthearted A woman who watched nearly 300 death row executions take place over 12 years opened up about how her macabre career impacted her life. For more than a decade, it was part of Michelle Lyons' job description to observe the final moments of hundreds of prisoners in the US state of Texas. She says the process never 'become mundane or normal', although she did become acclimatized to it - as she went on to watch so many executions that she 'can't recall' a lot of them.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog