Attempts by the European Union to bolster free speech in parts of Asia have taken another setback following protests from Muslim-majority countries in response to Quran burnings across northern Europe this year.
The governments of Malaysia and Indonesia, among the largest Muslim-majority countries in the world, summoned European ambassadors and demanded criminal action after an Iraq-born protester tore pages from the Quran and burned the religious book outside a mosque in Stockholm in June.
Similar acts of Quran burning, some carried out by individuals with far-right links, were also conducted in other cities in Sweden, as well as in Denmark last month and in the Netherlands in January.
