RTSun, 16 Oct 2016 20:43 UTC
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
A Swedish court has dismissed a case against a Muslim man accused of inciting racial hatred for flying an Islamic State flag because it is not an expression of hate speech.
The now 23-year-old from Laholm, in Halland County posted a photo of himself posing with the flag as his Facebook profile picture in December 2015, but removed it when it was reported to police in March.
The Syrian-born man was facing felony charges of inciting racial hatred, but Prosecutor Gisela Sjovalls said she had made the decision to drop the charges "after careful consideration back and forth,"
reports Hallandsposten.
Sjovalls said the waving of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) flag cannot be considered hate speech because it is not an expression of disrespect towards any ethnic or minority group, for example, in the same way the swastika could be considered a symbol of racial hatred. Instead, IS are "against everyone except those who don't belong to IS."
"Incitement of racial hatred is defined as the public dissemination of statements that threaten or disparage a group of persons with allusion to race, color, national or ethnic origin, religious belief or sexual orientation," she
said.
The man's defense attorney, Bjorn Nilsson, insisted his client is not a supporter of IS and argued that the flag has been a symbol of Islam for hundreds of years before IS laid their claim,
according to GP.
This is the first case in which the IS flag has been up for judicial review in Sweden, reports Svt, and so there was no precedent to help determine the outcome.
Comment: Interesting debate on what the IS flag represents. Here are some clues to the controversy:
ISIS, or the Islamic State
© STR/AP
RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM AND ISLAM
What do symbols represent in religion? For many, it is sacred; for some, it is their identity, or represents their culture, history, practices, beliefs, spirituality, architectural artifacts, buildings and decorations or signifies their place in religious worships and rituals, or a relic of historical values.
Islam is considered to be an iconoclastic religion and strictly speaking does not possess symbols. This derives from the strict monotheistic belief within Islam that there is no creator but God. Muslims believe that the pictorial representation of anything that could be understood to represent divine power is an arrogation of the divine creative power by humans.
Islam has no symbol principally associated with it. The early Muslim community did not really have a symbol. The Holy Qur'an also does not specify any symbol for Islam and current symbols are the results of the understanding and imagination of Muslim artists, politicians or thinkers during the past times. During the early years of Islam Muslim armies and caravans flew simple solid-colored flags (generally black or white without symbols or markings) for identification purposes. In later generations, the Muslim leaders continued to use a simple black, white or green flag with no markings, writings or symbolism on it. There are no official Islamic symbols, but several symbols have a special place in the Muslim community.
50 thousand in Stockholm only. They know that if these people are kindly treated and respected and cared for they will be grateful and will work for Sweden. It's a big country and Stockholm is the most relaxing city I've ever seen, all water and green. You don't need alcohol in any form, or pot, or valium to relax. If you treat people humanely and not as slaves the favor tenfold.