TEHRAN (IQNA) – The Archbishop of Vienna says insults to Prophet Muhammad (Peace upon Him) as well as desecration of the Holy Qur’an cannot be justified in the framework of freedom of expression.
The freedom of expression is innocent of insults to Islam, Christoph Schonbrunn told Asharq Al-Awsat. He noted that insulting Islam’s Prophet and burning the Holy Qur’an are not classified as freedom of expression, rejecting the recent actions of some.
He said personal freedom requires respect for others and not offending him in any way.
The remarks come weeks after a new wave of desecration of the Qur’an in some European countries.
Rasmus Paludan, an extremist Danish-Swedish politician and the leader of the far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), burned a copy of the Qur’an outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on Jan. 21 with both police protection and permission from Swedish authorities.
The following week, he burned a copy of Islam’s holy book in front of a mosque in Denmark and said he would repeat the act every Friday until Sweden is included in NATO.
Far-right Dutch politician Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), tore apart a Quran before setting it on fire at an anti-Islam demonstration in Enschede, the Netherlands in late January.
The desecrations were strongly condemned by Muslim states across the world that demanded European governments immediately prevent similar insults.