A Swedish court sentenced a far-right politician to four months in prison on two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group” after he made comments at political rallies two years ago.

The 42-year-old Danish-Swedish man, who was not identified but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and leader of the anti-immigration Danish nationalist party Stram Kurs, had previously been convicted and sentenced by a Danish court. for a similar charge, the Malmo District Court stated.

In 2022, Paludan made offensive comments directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests he led in the southern city of Malmo in 2022, the court said. He also burned a copy of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, on at least one occasion. In response, a violent wave of riots swept the country.

Some observers also say Paludan’s actions may have momentarily jeopardized Sweden’s chances of joining NATO after rising political tensions with Turkey. Sweden joined the alliance in March this year.

The court, in a statement Tuesday, said Paludan’s comments against Muslims “cannot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.”

Senior Counsel Nicklas Soderberg, president of the court, said: “It is permissible to make critical public statements, for example, about Islam and also about Muslims, but disrespect towards a group of people must not clearly cross the line for a objective and valid discussion”. .”

He added that during the Malmö demonstrations in April and September 2022 “there was no such discussion” and that Paludan’s public statements “only amounted to insulting Muslims.”

The court was especially interested in whether the politician knew that the protests were filmed and posted on Facebook.

Paludan had said he was not aware, but the district court disagreed, saying his “actions at the meetings would be totally illogical if he did not know about the Facebook post.”

Paludan, a lawyer by profession, told Swedish media that he was not surprised by the verdict.

“It was to be expected. We will appeal,” Swedish newspaper Expressen quoted him as saying.