It comes after a spate of Quran burnings in the Nordic country sparked debate on whether or not it should be criminalised, and the trial is the first of its kind in Sweden. However, the current case is unrelated to recent Quran burnings and dates back to the autumn of 2020.

The court heard that the 27-year-old man filmed himself burning a copy of the Quran on a barbecue alongside bacon – eating pork is forbidden in Islam. He then filmed himself leaving the burned Quran and the bacon outside a mosque in the city of Linköping, along with signs reading “Muhammed was a paedophile” and “No to Islam”.

A video of the event was later spread on social media, where it was paired with music popular in far-right groups, which was also played by the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque attack during his attack in 2019, where 51 people were killed and at least 50 more were injured.

Linköping District Court on Thursday found that the context in which the book was set on fire was enough to classify it as agitation against an ethnic group, as the charge is called in Sweden. This was, it argued, because the video meant to target Muslims, and not Islam as a religion.

“The court’s assessment is that the chosen music to a video with [this] content, can’t be perceived in any other way than as a threat against Muslims alluding to their faith. The other parts of the video can in context not be perceived in any other way than as an expression of disrespect,” said the court in a statement.

“The video was published anonymously via, among other things, a Twitter account. It was not a question of an ongoing debate at a meeting where the statement could immediately be countered. The video’s content and choice of publication channels can hardly be said to have invited to a factual and valid discussion,” said the court.

Quran burnings have become a hot topic in Sweden in the past year, after far-right activists Rasmus Paludan and Salwan Momika set the books on fire at a series of separate protests in the country. Muslim countries have criticised Sweden for allowing the protests to take place, but according to Swedish laws police are unable to deny a permit to demonstrations unless they pose a concrete threat to public order.

Both Paludan and Momika are also under investigation for suspected hate crimes at their Quran-burning protests. It is likely that as in the case of Thursday’s verdict, the context will determine whether the incidents are seen as legal political criticism of a religion or hate crimes.