Exclusive Interview With Rasmus Paludan: Why Burning the Qur'an is the Path Back to Free Speech (Video)

In a groundbreaking interview with RAIR Foundation USA, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of Stram Kurs in Denmark and Sweden, lays bare the relentless struggle for freedom of expression as both parties aim toward an “ethno-nationalist, conservative, libertarian state” of affairs in Denmark and Sweden. At the center of controversy, Paludan vehemently opposes the proposed ban on burning the Quran being considered in some Scandinavian nations and by the United Nations. His unyielding commitment to defend the right to criticize Islam has earned him both fervent support and menacing death threats. Undeterred, Paludan discusses the geopolitical implications of Quran burning in terms of Russia, Sweden, and Turkey and the erosion of fundamental liberties surrounding laws aimed at preventing the offense of Islam. Despite a state of much-reduced personal freedoms, Rasmus is still standing firm against intimidation and attempts to silence dissent.

Amidst the chaos of polarized opinions, Paludan’s bold stand emerges as a powerful testament to the enduring battle for free speech. Unraveling the truth behind the headlines, he confronts media and political misrepresentations with unwavering conviction, showcasing the resilience of a man willing to risk everything for the principles he holds dear. As the struggle for freedom intensifies, Paludan’s fight becomes a symbolic clash of values, sparking a critical debate reverberating far beyond Scandinavian borders.

Interview Transcript

On plans by some Scandinavian nations to ban the burning of the Koran:

“What has happened is that the government has said that they want to investigate whether they can impose legislative restrictions on the burning of holy scripture.

But as of now, there is no change in the law in Denmark. And that’s why people can still burn Qurans in Denmark. If there is to be any kind of legislative change, that would not happen until the opening of parliament in October.”

On UN resolution to ban “burning of holy books” and its implications, also on private property 

“I wouldn’t really say that that’s the main point because you would still be able to burn your Quran. You just wouldn’t be able to do it in public. So the major point here is that we did have blasphemy legislation in Denmark, and that was repealed in 2017.

And the reason it was repealed was that there was a man who was my client, who was charged with blasphemy because he had burned the Quran in his own garden and had put up a video clip of that burning.

He had posted, “Beware of burning Qurans in your garden. The neighbors may be disturbed by the smell.” 

So there was a committee, the Committee on Penal Code in Denmark, and they said that the blasphemy law in Denmark almost did not have any meaning anymore because it had evolved so that most criticism of religion was no longer affected by the blasphemy law. So the only thing that was still illegal was to burn holy scriptures.

And that was then repealed by Parliament in 2017 when the current Foreign Secretary was the Prime Minister. So the only change that was made was that now it was also legal to burn the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, and so forth.

Now the current Foreign Secretary, who was the man who was Prime Minister when the law was repealed, said, “We made a huge opening for freedom of speech in 2017 by repealing the blasphemy code.

Now we just want to adjust it a little bit by making it legal to burn holy books.” But that was the entire change. The entire change in 2017 was also legal to burn holy books. So, as a matter of fact, he now wants to reverse that decision and again make it illegal to burn holy books.”

On the geopolitical result of Koran burning and on freedom of expression:

“Well, first of all, if you want to change the law, the reason for that, the reason for limiting the citizen’s freedom should not be that somebody is holding a gun to your head.

That is the worst possible reason because if you change the law and limit the freedom of your citizens because someone is holding a gun to your head, then they will understand that that works.

And then they will keep holding a gun with further demands. So that is the worst possible reason. And that is probably also one of the reasons why the entire opposition in Denmark, from the extreme Communist Party to the most nationalist party in parliament, have co-signed a letter objecting to this proposed change of the blasphemy law in Denmark.

And the Sweden Democrats, which is the party supporting the current government in Sweden, have also vehemently opposed a change. So it’s not like the entire parliament of Denmark and Sweden are in favor of this. Not at all.

Unfortunately, right now in Denmark, we have a majority government, so they can actually decide whatever they want. Very curiously, almost all leadership of major newspapers in Denmark have publicly condemned this proposed change.

And this is people that hate me. Okay? They hate me. This is so outrageous that they still come out in support of the right of burning the Koran.

It’s a very good principle, and that’s because it is not a matter of whether you support my criticism of Islam. You should if you know anything about Islam, but, you know, they don’t. It’s because they do know that freedom of speech is not something that should be meddled with lightly. Okay?

So when you have a right to burn a Koran, certainly you shouldn’t change that right because somebody is threatening you or intimidating you. And the lies of the foreign secretary of Denmark are even more widespread because he’s also claimed that Denmark and Sweden are standing alone.

This is not true, because in Norway, our fellow Scandinavian country, all major parties, including the government, have said it is legal to burn the Koran in Norway.

We do not agree with burning the Koran, but we have no intention of changing the law that you can burn the Koran publicly if you want to do that.

Furthermore, in Belgium and the Netherlands, and France, it is also legal to burn the Koran. It is true that the governments of those countries are trying to use the police to limit those rights, but according to the law, it is legal to do this.

I was prevented in Belgium because they said I had filed my application for a public gathering too late and because of COVID-19 restrictions.

And I was prevented in France because of COVID-19 restrictions and because they argued that this manifestation would happen on the same day as a national holiday where most police were engaged elsewhere. So it is not true that Denmark and Sweden are standing alone in this.

And also, Terry Jones tried burning a Koran or at least tried criticizing Islam in Dearborn, Michigan.

And I don’t see Muslim countries hating the United States for that reason. I understand they often hate the United States for other reasons.

This is not something at all that we are standing alone with.

And the right to criticize Islam is even wider, much wider because in the United States, you’re not only allowed to criticize Islam, you’re also allowed to demean Muslims if you so please.”

Rasmus on why he picked the British & Turkish Embassy in Sweden as locations to burn a Koran:

“The Turkish embassy in Sweden [see here and here], which was what really set this whole geopolitical incident in motion, was because somebody had put a doll hanging of Erdogan outside City Hall in Stockholm, and Erdogan had protested and tried to use his leverage on Sweden to get them to fine the people who did this.

And I think that was in very poor taste, hanging a doll of Erdogan, but that’s not the point. The point is that he shouldn’t meddle with freedom of speech in Sweden. He can do that in Turkey, and he is doing that in Turkey. He has done that for years.

So I wanted to object to his interference with the freedom of speech in Sweden, and I also wanted to prove that it’s not the same and that Muslims have a very different understanding of democracy compared with non-Muslims.

This was proven, again, by multiple people sending death threats and burning effigies of me and so forth. Because I was threatened (see here and here) by the president of Chechnya [Ramzan Kadyrov], a known butcher and torturer, and murderer, I also burned a Koran in front of the residence of the Russian ambassador in Copenhagen, and because I didn’t want Erdogan to meddle with the application of Sweden into NATO, I vowed that I would burn a Koran in front of the embassy of Turkey in Copenhagen every Friday until Erdogan let Sweden join NATO.

Of course, I was prevented from doing this by the security service because the threat to my life was too great.

In March, I did burn part of a Koran in front of the British embassy in Copenhagen, not at a public protest, this was just me walking up and burning the Koran, and this was because of the Wakefield incident when a young teenage boy in Wakefield was submitted to some kind of Sharia court where he was receiving death threats and his mother had to apologize in the local court.

He had apparently thrown a Koran with his friends at school.

So I wanted to object to the fact that Britain is no longer protecting their own residents, I mean British people but are doing Sharia law against their own citizens.”

Denmark: Politician Burns Quran Outside UK Embassy in Protest of the Islamic Enforcement of Sharia Against 4 British Pupils (1 Autistic)

“Whenever you try to humble us, whenever you try to humiliate us, we will burn another Qur’an” – Rasmus Paludan https://t.co/1g7OrBgbyK pic.twitter.com/XDFEFCCEjA

— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) March 5, 2023

Rasmus speaks on the direct consequences to himself as a consequence of these very well-publicized koran burnings:

“Well, I mean, after, even a few days before the 21st of January this year, but certainly after, the number of death threats on social media intensified severely.

I’d never experienced that kind of amount (of death threats)

And I eventually didn’t have the resources to file a criminal complaint against all of those people.

And then, the second time I wanted to burn a Koran in front of the Turkish embassy, this was on February 3rd; I was removed when I was at the mosque.

I was going to the Turkish embassy after being at the mosque, and I was removed by the security service for, well, a serious threat.

And since then, they have more or less kept me out of the public eye at various locations.

And the only exception to this was at the public gathering in Bornholm in the middle of June.

There is a political festival every year in June in Denmark where all political parties gather in the same village so that everybody can walk around and listen to whatever people have political messages.

Very very sadly, the security service told me that the threat to my life was too great for me to go to Bornholm, and they would not follow me with bodyguards if I went anyway.

And I said I will go anyway, and then a few days before, I received a decision from the police of Bornholm stating that I was banned from physically entering the premises.

I mean, they banned me from an entire village.

And of course, I went anyway and was briefly deprived of my liberty, which was illegal, and I also received a decision saying that they apologized, and I also received compensation.

And then, every night where the illegal zone began.

So I was right outside the illegal zone but very close to the festival anyway, and of course, nothing happened all three days.

So the claim that this was something that was regarding my security seemed to be far-fetched.

Now journalists of newspapers in Denmark have received insight into the freedom of information of the Minister of Justice, and it turns out that prior to this political meeting, the Minister of Justice was in a meeting with the American ambassador in Copenhagen.

So, of course, the suspicion is that maybe I was not denied entry because of security concerns but rather because the sleepy Joe Biden administration, for other reasons, wanted to deny me access.

If that is true, of course, it is very illegal, and that could lead to the fall of the government if it’s ever found out.”

Rasmus speaks to the planned burning of a Torah and Christian bible by a 30-year-old Iranian and its consequences 

“Well, I can tell you it happened because it was a 30-year-old Iranian who seemed to have [inaudible], and he actually burned the Torah and the Bible and the Swedish and Danish and Israeli flags in Copenhagen in front of the Israeli embassy three weeks ago.

And he didn’t come up as a very intelligent person, and he was asked why he was doing this (and he responded) because Rasmus is a faggot, and I hate faggots.

And then I said to him, well, it takes one to know one, and then he said, that’s right.

So he wasn’t very intelligent, or maybe he didn’t speak Danish very well; I’m not sure, but I’m not really that concerned.

But, of course, nobody reacted to anything; nobody cared.”

[Paludan has previously stated, “I am 100 percent sure if I burned 100 Bibles and 100 Torahs, no Christian or Jew would threaten or attack me.”]

Rasmus on how his life has changed since he began to burn Korans

“Well, I mean, certainly it has consequences on a personal level because since the 16th of April 2019, I have been surrounded day and night by bodyguards from the Danish security service.

So, of course, that imposes a restriction on your personal freedom.

And then, since the 3rd of February, the restrictions have been even more serious because the threat is more serious because many… because that’s a crown jewel victory for them.

But I’m still totally convinced by my convictions, and I will say that I have been proven that what I believe is true by the reaction of Muslims and the governments of several countries.”

Sweden’s PM, Elf Kristerson, accused Russia of a disinformation campaign against Sweden’s image using the Koran burnings in Stockholm. Why and how have these demonstrations become geopolitical events at this level?

“First of all, I can see why Russia would have an interest in Sweden having difficulty joining NATO.

I can certainly see why that would be in the Russian interest.

But it’s also easier to point the finger at Russia than to say the real problem is that we’ve opened the door to 2 million Muslims that hate us.

Because if the reason is that Russia is trying to sabotage, then we Swedes are all standing together against foreign enemies.

But if the reason is that 2 million Muslims in Sweden hate us, then look in the mirror if you want to see the person to blame.”

Rasmus speaks to the accusations that Russia is behind his demonstrations 

“First of all, Sweden has a long history of always seeing Russian infiltration everywhere to give Russia the blame for the shortcomings of the Swedish government.

So I don’t think that’s something new. You can always cry “Russian spy”.

It is true that Russia has used the Koran burnings, we know this, but we don’t know that they’ve orchestrated them.

After the problem in January this year, they tried to do some psyops in different European countries where they had their own agents do mockings of Turkey, acting like it was Swedes who did this and so forth.

I can’t say what kind of involvement Russia has in the actions of other people, but I can certainly say they have no involvement whatsoever, either directly or indirectly, in my actions.

Because my actions have been that I have been the leader of the political party since 2017, and in my efforts in Swedish Parliament, where I’ve explained at length my politics, and in conjunction with that, I have also, on several occasions, burned the Koran.

So this has been happening for my part since 2017, and even in 2015 and 2016, I was active in anti-Islam movements.

So I am fighting for the betterment and saving of the Danish and Swedish people from the Muslim invasion, and if Russia is using that, they are certainly not doing it through me because I’m only doing it on instructions from myself and the leadership of the party.

The idea to burn the Koran on the 21st of January did not come from Chang Frick.

The idea came from another journalist in Sweden whom I know quite well.

His reason is his case. I can’t speculate. I can say why I did it, and I have already explained that.

The planning of the protest was done by me. Traveling with me and my secretary to Stockholm was done by me. The communication with the police was done by me.

But because there is a fee that has to be paid before a protest, and that fee is about the equivalent of 40 Canadian dollars, that fee has to be paid in advance.

And if I were to transfer the fee from Denmark, it would take too long for the money to reach the Swedish police.

So I asked Chang Frick to pay the 320 Swedish crowns from his Swedish bank account to the police authority.

So I was not paid to burn the Koran.

So that was his involvement, and I have never met him, and I have never spoken with him.

I am aware that when he was first educated as a journalist, he did, 10 years ago, a few freelance articles for Russia Today.

As far as I know, I can’t really speculate, but the decision to do this was mine, and the reasons were also mine.”

[In a past interview with RAIR Foundation USA, Paludan discussed the accusation of Russia financially backing his protest; see here]

Rasmus speaks on what is likely about to be New York Times planned hit piece on him:

“There have been so many lies by mainstream media, and one lie, of course, is the Chang Frick lie, which is completely baseless, considering that all Chang Frick did was that he paid a very small fee because I could not get the money to the Swedish police in time.

There have also been accusations by the Swedish Chang Frick that he had connections with members of the Wagner soldier group, and their evidence of this was that a very old and deleted account on VK.com, and was affiliated with another deleted page for the political party, Stram Kurs. (Rasmus’ party in Denmark)

I said, “I have no involvement with that close profile, but even if I had involvement like if you find someone on Facebook that I’m friends with on Facebook, I have 5,000 friends on Facebook.

How am I going to know who everybody is? Do you have any evidence that this profile, which is now deleted, was mine?” And they said, “Yes, the evidence is it was your name.” So I was not very impressed.

The evidence was very weak.”

We asked Rasmus what he felt the most common misrepresentations of him and his activism are

“The lie that I want to deport all non-Westerners from Denmark is a great lie.

The lie that I hate Muslims and demean Muslims is a great lie. The lie that I only burn the Koran to provoke and demean Muslims is a great lie.

It is the case that I do not want Islam in Denmark and Sweden, for obvious reasons, because it’s never going to end well with Muslims in Denmark and Sweden.

I have no problem with people from countries that are able to function with the rules and culture of Denmark and Sweden.

The Muslim countries are not. So I think those are some of the great lies. There’s also a lie that I have been to prison. This is not true.

I’ve never been to prison. I’ve never been convicted of any sex crime or any violent crime. I have mainly been convicted of crimes of conscience.

That is, I’ve been convicted of speaking my mind as a politician. So this is some of the lies that have been told.”

Paludan describes his Swedish and Danish political parties:

“There are two political parties.

There is Stram Kurs in Denmark, which was founded on 15 July 2017, and then there’s Stram Kurs Sweden in Sweden, which was founded on 2 September 2021.

And both parties aim toward an ethno-nationalist, conservative, libertarian state of affairs in Denmark and Sweden. And that means we want a great amount of personal freedom while preserving traditional values.

And we also want our countries to remain reasonably ethnically homogenous because this is what has worked for us for hundreds of years.

Rasmus describes some of the events that have led to his extraordinary situation living under major security precautions.

When I went to do a public gathering on the 14th of April 2019 in a suburb of Copenhagen, or actually a borough of Copenhagen, many, many Muslims and other criminals went berserk and burned the borough down, more or less.

And this led to the Minister of Justice explaining a few days later that there was a serious threat on my life from gang criminals and from radicalized Islamists.

That is why I was given protection by the security service.

It is like the Secret Service in the United States.

So they protect politicians and others who are threatened with their life based on their function in the democratic society.

So they do not protect people who are threatened because they’re gang members, but they do protect people who are threatened because of their lawful political statements.

And what happened in Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark, is that a man from Lebanon took out a huge knife to kill me.

And I was escorted away, and he was shot because he refused to put down the knife.

Today Danish media is reporting that many people in Denmark are trying to hurt the Quran burners, and then they’re giving a link to a page where a terrorist group is giving out a bounty of $50,000 for me, dead or alive.

And it also goes to prove that Muslim terrorists are not only very mean and violent and stupid.”