The Danish Parliament will discuss, on Tuesday, the first reading of a draft law to ban the burning of the Holy Qur’an, after the unrest recorded in several Islamic countries due to the desecration of copies of it in this Scandinavian country.
The project aims to amend the criminal law with regard to criminalizing “dealing in an inappropriate manner with matters of great religious importance to a particular religion, publicly or with the intention of promoting this in a wider circle,” according to what the Danish Parliament explained on its website, according to what the agency reported. French AFP.
This also applies to desecration of the Bible, the Torah, or religious symbols such as the cross, with the offender being punished with a fine and two years in prison.
Denmark recorded 483 cases of burning symbols or flags between July 21 and October 24, 2023, according to police.
In its first form, the project sparked criticism from the media and associations that saw it as a return to the 334-year-old blasphemy law, which was repealed six years ago.
Justice Minister Peter Hammelgaard said in a statement at the end of October that the project “was limited to specifically target inappropriate treatment of writings that are of great importance to a religion.”
It was originally supposed to include the desecration of anything that had significant religious symbolism.
Hammelgaard previously confirmed in a press conference when the project was announced at the end of August that it would not include “verbal or written expressions” offensive to religions, including caricatures.
He stressed that Denmark still strongly adheres to the laws of freedom of expression, amid criticism from many opposition parties that fear that the ban would violate those laws.
Protests against the Israeli war on Gaza in front of the US Embassy in the Philippines
ABS-CBN Philippine Network reported that several organizations in the Philippines organized a demonstration in front of the US Embassy in the capital, Manila, on Tuesday, to protest the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
It showed pictures of demonstrators holding banners and chanting: “From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the American war machine,” and “American forces, get out of the Philippines now!”
As ABS-CBN noted, the demonstrators condemned the US government's role in the war on the Gaza Strip and expressed concern about the US-Philippine military exercises.
According to the television network, during the demonstration near the American embassy, demonstrators clashed with Philippine police special forces. There have been no reports of casualties so far.
The capitals of a number of countries around the world are witnessing mass demonstrations denouncing the war on Gaza and supporting Palestine, as the streets of the cities were filled with thousands of demonstrators carrying banners condemning the war on Gaza.
In recent days, the Israeli army has escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip, targeting the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, which is considered the largest in Gaza. It also bombed with very violent raids the vicinity of all hospitals and health service centers in the Gaza and North Gaza governorates.
Due to the ongoing Israeli bombing, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced yesterday that the Shifa Medical Complex was out of service, after the oxygen was cut off after the last electrical generator stopped working due to the Israeli siege imposed on it and the lack of fuel.
Moscow: The situation in the Arctic region is very tense
Ambassador for Special Missions to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Nikolai Korshunov, stated that the international situation in the Arctic region is very difficult and tense, and increases the possibility of escalation.
He added: “We are concerned about the fragmentation of international cooperation in the Arctic, including the weakening of the Arctic Council as a key element of multilateral international cooperation,” pointing out that there was a tendency to politicize international scientific cooperation, which led to the collapse of existing relationships between research and educational organizations in the Arctic. Arctic region.
He expressed his hope that some experts and workers would be able to resume their work until the end of the year.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia would respond to the increase in NATO’s military presence in the Arctic region with a set of measures, including proactive ones.