A far-right politician who made nasty remarks at political rallies two years ago was convicted by a Swedish court on Tuesday to four months in prison for two charges of "incitement against an ethnic group."

According to the Malmo District Court, the 42-year-old Danish-Swedish man, who has been unnamed but has been recognised by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, the founder and leader of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration group Stram Kurs, had previously been found guilty and sentenced by a Danish court on a comparable charge.

According to the court, Paludan, the founder and leader of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made derogatory statements about Muslims, Arabs, and Africans in 2022 while leading rallies in the southern city of Malmo. He also burned a copy of the Quran, 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 risked Sweden’s chances of joining NATO after increasing political tensions with Turkey. Sweden joined the alliance in March this year.

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

Chief Councilor Nicklas Söderberg, the court’s chairman, said: “It is permitted to publicly make critical statements about, for example, Islam and also Muslims, but the disrespect of a group of people must not clearly cross the line for a factual and valid discussion."

He added that during the Malmo rallies in April and September 2022 “there was no question of any such discussion,” and that Paludan’s public statements “only amounted to insulting Muslims."

The court took particular interest in whether the politician knew the protests were filmed and published on Facebook. Paludan had said that he wasn't aware of it but the district court disagreed and said his “actions at the gatherings would be downright illogical if he didn’t know about the publication on Facebook.”

Paludan, a lawyer by profession, told Swedish media outlets that he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.

“It was expected. We will appeal,” the Swedish newspaper Expressen cited him as saying.