The UN Human Rights Council Turns Its Back on Free Speech

In the tumultuous realm of international diplomacy, a storm had been brewing. The epicenter was the United Nations Human Rights Council, a stage of clashing ideologies where countries often grappled with the ideas of free speech.

The controversy was a ripple effect from an incident that occurred thousands of miles away, in the calm and crisp air of Stockholm, Sweden. It was during the revered Eid al-Adha holiday when an Iraqi-born protester, in a defiant act of religious disrespect, desecrated the Qur’an. He tore the sacred pages, wiped his shoes with them, and then set them ablaze, right outside a mosque. His actions were a shockwave that rippled through the Muslim world.