COPENHAGEN: Denm­ark charged two people on Friday under its law banning desecration of the Holy Quran, a first for legislation adopted after a series of actions that sparked outrage among Muslims.

The two persons, whose identities were not disclosed, were accused of “inappropriate treatment” of the holy Quran during a festival in June gathering people from the political, economic and social spheres.

Neither Copenhagen’s prosecution authority nor local media described their alleged actions in detail.

The actions “took place publicly, were followed by a number of people and were also broadcast to a wider circle by being filmed and broadcast live on Facebook”, prosecutor Lise-Lotte Nilas said in a statement.

The new legislation was adopted on Dec 7, 2023, and entered into force several days later, after a series of desecrations in Denmark and neighbouring Sweden sparked outrage in Muslim countries.

In practical terms, it is now forbidden to defile holy texts publicly or in videos intended to be disseminated widely.

Those who break the law risk a fine or up to two years behind bars.

According to Danish daily Politiken, police were investigating eight violations of the law as of Jan 22.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025