ISIS Calls For Terrorist Attacks On Christians Worldwide After Politician Burns Qur'an

The Islamic State jihadist group has called for attacks on Christians worldwide after a far-right Swedish politician publicly burned a Qur'an last month.

ISIS launched a social media campaign urging Muslims to attack Christians, especially in Europe, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reported.

A Telegram channel affiliated with the terrorist group argued that the publicity stunt of burning the sacred Islamic scripture was an insult to the religion. It also urged ISIS operatives to "shed the blood of the perpetrator."

ISIS also called on Muslims in Europe to set rainbow flags, used to symbolize the LGBT community, on fire in city centers to heed the principle of "measure for measure."

An ISIS-affiliated group used a recording of former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to justify the global call for attacks against Christians.

On Jan. 31, Sarh al-Khilafah Media Foundation posted a video with the voice of bin Laden in which the late terrorist leader can be heard threatening to carry out terror attacks against European countries. Bin Laden originally made the threat in 2006 due to offensive cartoons depicting Islam's prophet Muhammad in a Danish satirical newspaper.

The terrorist group also claimed responsibility for killing over 20 Christians in a pub in Congo last month and the deadly attacks against Mozambican soldiers. One of the posts on the ISIS-affiliated Telegram channel claimed that the attacks were in retaliation to the burning of the Qur'an in Sweden, but Meir Amit noted that ISIS "has been carrying out attacks against Christians in these countries for a long period of time."

The latest threats from ISIS came days after Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish politician and leader of the far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, set ablaze a Qur'an as part of a protest against Turkey and Islam on Jan. 21, the Daily Mail reported.

Paludan burned the Islamic sacred book in front of the Turkish embassy in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. Paludan's actions angered Turkey, which vowed not to approve Sweden's bid for NATO membership.

The burning incident also sparked protests across Muslim countries.

In the city of Khost in Afghanistan, hundreds of Muslim men chanted "death to the Swedish government" and held flags of the Taliban to condemn Paludan, Al Arabiya reported.

The Taliban-led Afghan government urged Sweden to punish Paludan and to stop "provocative anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim acts."

Some protesters in Turkey and Malaysia also converged in Swedish embassies to condemn the incident. At one point, they burned a photo of Paludan in response to the Swedish politician's actions.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the incident a "deeply disrespectful act" but argued that Paludan was mainly exercising his freedom of expression.

This was not the first time Paludan was embroiled in controversy.

In 2020, Paludan was convicted of racism after he posted anti-Islam videos on his party's social media accounts.

He was also disbarred as a criminal lawyer for three years and banned from driving for one year.