In response to recent incidents involving the burning of Qurans within the country, Sweden announced on Thursday that it has elevated its terrorism alert level by one notch to the second-highest designation. These Quran burnings, carried out by a small number of anti-Islam activists, ignited protests across Muslim nations.
SAPO, Sweden’s domestic security service, indicated that the overall security landscape has worsened, resulting in the elevation of the terrorism risk level to level four, which is categorized as “high” on their five-point scale. This marks the first instance since 2016 that SAPO has raised the alert level to this extent.
Over the past few weeks, Sweden has issued advisories to its citizens abroad and businesses linked to the nation, urging them to exercise increased vigilance and caution. The advisory comes in the wake of a series of public Quran burnings conducted by an Iraqi asylum-seeker. Earlier in the year, a far-right activist from Denmark also burned a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
The police, invoking the principle of freedom of speech, have permitted these protests carried out by a handful of demonstrators.
Similar to many Western countries, Sweden lacks blasphemy laws that would prohibit the burning of religious texts.
Denmark, a neighboring nation where several Quran desecrations have also taken place publicly, declared on Wednesday that they will continue to uphold heightened efforts at internal Danish borders, based on the recommendations of the domestic intelligence service PET. Sweden has also increased its border controls and identity checks at various crossing points.
On Tuesday, both PET and its foreign intelligence counterpart issued a joint statement stating that the recent Quran burnings “have attracted significant negative attention from various quarters, including militant Islamists.” Denmark’s terror alert level is also at the second-highest level.
