MALMO, Sweden (AP) 鈥 A Swedish court sentenced on Tuesday a far-right politician to four months in jail for two counts of 鈥渋ncitement against an ethnic group鈥 after making hateful comments at political rallies two years ago.
The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, had been previously convicted and sentenced by a Danish court on a similar charge, the Malmo District Court said.
In 2022, Paludan made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests that he led in the southern city of Malmo in 2022, the court said. He also burned a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, on at least one occasion. In response, a violent wave of riots swept the country.
Some observers also say Paludan鈥檚 actions may have momentarily risked Sweden鈥檚 chances of joining NATO after increasing . .
The court in a statement Tuesday said Paludan's remarks against Muslims 鈥渃annot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.鈥
Chief Councilor Nicklas S枚derberg, the court鈥檚 chairman, said: 鈥淚t is permitted to publicly make critical statements about, for example, Islam and also Muslims, but the disrespect of a group of people must not clearly cross the line for a factual and valid discussion."
He added that during the Malmo rallies in April and September 2022 鈥渢here was no question of any such discussion,鈥 and that Paludan鈥檚 public statements 鈥渙nly amounted to insulting Muslims."
The court took particular interest in whether the politician knew the protests were filmed and published on Facebook. Paludan had said that he wasn't aware of it but the district court disagreed and said his 鈥渁ctions at the gatherings would be downright illogical if he didn鈥檛 know about the publication on Facebook.鈥
Paludan, a lawyer by profession, told Swedish media outlets that he wasn鈥檛 surprised by the verdict.
鈥淚t was expected. We will appeal,鈥 the Swedish newspaper Expressen cited him as saying.
