Today, the chairman of the justice committee, Richard Jomshof (SD), has stepped down from his position. He himself states in an interview with the magazine Kvartal that he will be charged with incitement against a ethnic group after sharing two satirical pictures of X.
Incitement against ethnic group
Freedom of expression expert Nils Funcke believes that one of the satirical images can be classified as incitement against a ethnic group. The picture depicts a Muslim family moving into the house “Europe” and setting it on fire.
– It is very generalizing and expresses disrespect towards an entire group of people with a certain religious affiliation. It could objectively be described and considered as disrespect towards a people group.
Satire about extremism
In the second picture, a Jihadist asks to be rescued from the sea. Once up in the boat “England”, he pushes the other passages into the water with an oar that says “Rape Jihad” on it.
Nils Funcke does not consider this to be incitement against a group of people, because the satire is aimed at an extremist group and not at an entire people.
– I see no problems with that picture. There, it is a jihadist who is portrayed as a criminal.
Courtes rather than traps
If, on the other hand, Richard Jomshof’s two divisions are assessed together and not individually, Nils Funcke believes that this could affect the outcome. Together, the images could be seen as a common satire directed at Islamism and not at Muslims, and therefore not classified as incitement against a ethnic group.
Nils Funcke emphasizes the strong position of freedom of expression in Sweden and how it is better to propose than to fail.
– There is no conclusion. Each publication must be tested individually. It may just as well lead to no prosecution and being dropped.