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Denmark’s Quran law shows hypocrisy of criticising Iran

A Quran is burned in Copenhagen last year, before the law's introduction. Credit: Getty

December 19, 2024 - 10:00am

On Saturday, the Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi was arrested for performing without a hijab. Although she has since been released, the arrest has invited condemnation across the West. One such critical country was Denmark, where a politician from the Moderate Party called it “crazy” and many more condemned the move from the Iranian regime. But while warranted, denunciations of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s morality police can ring hollow in Denmark in 2024.

Two weeks ago, Denmark’s controversial Quran law celebrated its first anniversary. To mark the occasion, the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) praised the Danish government in the publication Politiken, stating that although only six people have been investigated under the law in the last year and no one has been charged, it works as a “strong deterrent and symbolic declaration against religious hatred”. At the time, many defended the law by claiming it protected Danish Muslims against Islamophobia. It was also argued that it would keep Danes safe abroad, although most weren’t keen to clearly state the source of the threat — with the exception of those who observed that the Quran law was brought in, among other reasons, “to appease the Iranian theocracy”.

On the anniversary, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen proclaimed the law a “success”, as it ended the Quran burnings that were domestically unpopular and stoked tensions abroad. The far-Right politician Rasmus Paludan who burned cheap editions of Qurans across the country — once pouring buttermilk over it first to symbolise the “semen from Christian men and apostates” — made defending the bill look suitably sensible. Books should be read, not burned, said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the time. While the Danish establishment continues to defend the law, in practice it prioritises religious sensitivities over freedom of speech.

One of the law’s sharpest critics is the artist Firoozeh Bazrafkan, who in 2023 — before the law was introduced — grated the Quran on a carrot grater outside the Iranian embassy in protest against the regime. But if Bazrafkan were to stage her protest again today in solidarity with Ahmadi, she would be investigated for blasphemy and could face a fine. When some point out this hypocrisy, it is dismissed as an overreaction. The government wants this law to be seen as a deterrent against acts such as Paludan’s book burnings, but all it reveals is a country that has lost its belief in freedom, and with that its courage.

By introducing the Quran law, Denmark forgot the unequivocal support it showed for blasphemers during the cartoon crisis of the 2000s, when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten commissioned 12 satirical drawings of the prophet Muhammad. Despite an overwhelming backlash and the very real threat Danish ambassadors faced abroad, the government defended press freedom and was supported by the rest of the West. Denmark still leads by example, although no longer in support of free speech. In Britain, Labour MP Tahir Ali recently advocated for blasphemy laws similar to Denmark’s Quran legislation. This was met with sympathetic mutterings from Keir Starmer about being “committed to tackling all forms of hatred and division”, not the sharp rebuke for which supporters of free expression would hope.

When a singer is arrested in Iran for performing with her hair out, we in the West should have the courage to call that country what it is: an oppressive theocracy. Unfortunately, cowardice has set in and countries such as Denmark have capitulated to an Islamic understanding of blasphemy. Instead, they should be protecting those who challenge it.


Felice Basbøll is a history student at Trinity College Dublin.

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Kathleen Burnett
Kathleen Burnett
4 hours ago

There’s probably nothing complicated going on here; the modern, cultural, centrist, ‘nice’ politician, is simply a coward.

Jake Raven
Jake Raven
2 hours ago

It’s presumably alright to burn Harlan Coben books, so why not any other book. The Quran is a work of fiction and should have no special protections.

John Galt
John Galt
1 hour ago

This was always where hare speech laws were headed, laws of free speech need to be completely free or else they always end up expanding into less freedom.

Buck Rodgers
Buck Rodgers
27 minutes ago

I absolutely hate this

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
55 minutes ago

How about a Bible Law? Or maybe Torah Law? Or the Bhagavad Gita? Or anybody else’s Holy writings?

Norfolk Sceptic
Norfolk Sceptic
38 seconds ago
Reply to  UnHerd Reader

What about woke writings?