©Sanjay Kanojia/AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the burning of the Koran, promising to protect Muslims from hate.
“(AlQuran) is holy to Muslims,” Putin said during his trip to Russia’s Muslim-majority region of Dagestan on Wednesday. “We know that in other countries they act differently, they don’t respect the religious sentiments of people, and say that it is not a crime (to attack one’s religious beliefs).” Putin noted that deliberately offending and mocking religious beliefs falls under Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code, which deals with incitement to hatred.
“It is a crime to incite religious hate,” the Russian leader said. “We will always abide by these legal rules.”
There have been several cases of activists publicly tearing pages out of the Koran and setting the book on fire, most notably in Nordic countries. On Wednesday, a Swedish court allowed the Koran to be burned outside of a mosque in Stockholm on Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday.
The burning of the Koran in countries such as Sweden and Norway has led to protests by Muslims at home and abroad. The authorities in these states usually condemn the acts themselves, but argue that they are protected under freedom of expression laws.
Putin vows strict punishment for anyone found guilty of disrespecting Quran in Russia’s Islamic states
Amid rising Islamophobia, the world witnessed deliberate acts of desecration of the Holy Quran, which were highly offensive and disrespectful by Muslims as these acts are seen as an affront to the religion of over 2 billion people.
As West failed to take any measures to stop such attempts that trigger strong backlash, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced sentence for anyone found guilty of burning Islam’s holiest book in the Muslim regions.
Kremlin state-run news agency quoting the Russian president said offenders will complete their sentences, as directed by the Minister of Justice, in places of deprivation of liberty located in one of the regions of Russia with a predominantly Muslim population.
Russian premier made these remarks during a meeting with army commissars. The recent development comes a month after a Russian resident was held for desecrating a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque, a move that caused outrage, especially in Chechnya.
Besides banning any Islamophobic events, Moscow earlier denounced Sweden for allowing citizen to burn copy of the Quran in the capital Stockholm.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) is not covered by freedom of expression.
In 2021, Putin said that insults to the Prophet are a violation of religious freedom and a violation of the sacred feelings of people who profess Islam. He made the statements during his annual press conference where he stressed the significance of artistic freedom without hindrance to religious freedom.
Russian president asserted artistic freedom in general but also stressed to discern its limits saying it should not attack the freedom of other communities.
Back in 2006, Putin called the caricatures depicting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) an inadmissible provocation. He condemned blasphemous cartoons saying these incidents create an additional rift between faiths, and offend and provoke worshippers.
Putin: Insulting Prophet Muhammad is not freedom of expression
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said insulting Prophet Muhammad does not count as freedom of expression.
Insults to the prophet are a "violation of religious freedom and the violation of the sacred feelings of people who profess Islam,", Putin said on Thursday during his annual news conference, Russian News Agency TASS reported.
Putin also criticised posting photos of Nazis on websites such as the one titled the Immortal Regiment dedicated to Russians that died in World War Two.
Putin said these acts give rise to extremist reprisals, citing as an example the attack on the editorial office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris after its publication of cartoons of the prophet.
While praising artistic freedom in general, Putin said it has its limits and it should not infringe on other freedoms.
Russia has evolved as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, so Russians, he said, are used to respecting each other’s traditions.
In some other countries, this respect comes in short supply, Putin said.
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