Wilful damage to Quran can be considered hate crime – EU expert

The desecration of places or worship such as mosques, synagogues or churches as well as – depending on the context – publicly displayed religious objects are both considered serious hate crimes in various EU member states.

But although Malta has revoked a law against the vilification of religion, a European policy expert has suggested that the intentional damage to copies of the Quran at Mater Dei Hospital could be penalised as a racist hate crime under the Maltese Criminal Code provision on wilful damage to public property (Article 325) coupled with the apparent racist motivation which courts are obliged to take into account (Article 83B of the Maltese Criminal Code).

The European anti-racism law and policy expert who spoke to MaltaToday referred to the EU’s Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law whose implementation the EU Commission is currently monitoring in all Member States.

“The Framework Decision obliges EU states to penalise ‘the intentional public incitement to hatred or violence’, commonly known as ‘hate speech’, on a number of grounds including race, ethnic origin, nationality and religion. But it also obliges member states to ensure that their legal systems take racist motivation into account in the case of all other crimes – for example homicide, bodily harm but also wilful damage to private or public property.”

In this case, the damage to the Quran can be read as wilful damage of public property with a racist or xenophobic motivation given the means used and other circumstances of the case. 

“All serious data collection on hate crime takes desecration of religious buildings and objects into account,” the expert said, clarifying that these criminal offences must be clearly distinguished from the altogether different cases of religious satire or blasphemy which are very rarely prosecuted across Europe due to the overarching guarantees relating to freedom of expression.

“It is thus perfectly possible for a state to punish the physical desecration of religious buildings or objects while simultaneously permitting religious satire,” the expert said.

Muslims who pray at Mater Dei’s multi-faith room were shocked to find slices of pork (bacon) placed among the pages of several Quran books. A printed A4 paper was also found, bearing a picture of Fr Jacques Hamel who was murdered in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, France earlier this week.

The message on the paper read: “RIP Fr Jacques Hamel, victim of Islam and its liberal/progressive apologists. A religion with blood on its hand cannot complain that its books are soiled.”

Confirming the incident, the Islamic Community in Malta condemned the criminal act and reported the incident to the hospital’s CEO and the police.

“We as Muslims living in Malta will not play their game. We could say, like all the haters and fools, that this was an act of Christian terrorism but we don’t generalize like those perpetrators who have the same agenda as other terrorist groups, encouraging hate in this beautiful country,” the ICM said on its Facebook page.