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Claim:<\/b><\/p>\n
In March 2026, Spain\u2019s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez announced that anyone who insulted the Prophet Muhammad or the Islamic faith would face a five-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n
Rating:<\/b><\/p>\n <\/a> Rating: False<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n In March 2026, a claim<\/a> (archived<\/a>) circulated online that Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez announced anyone who insulted the Prophet Muhammad or the Islamic faith would face a five-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n The Prophet Muhammad<\/a> was the founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Quran, Islam’s holy scripture.<\/p>\n Early versions of the claim circulated in Arabic. A translation into English read<\/a>:<\/p>\n Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez:\u00a0 S\u00e1nchez: We hold the Holy Quran in high regard, and anyone who insults the Prophet Muhammad or the Islamic faith will face a prison sentence of five years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n The claims circulated mainly on <\/span>X<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>archived<\/span><\/a>) but also on <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>archived<\/span><\/a>), <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>archived<\/span><\/a>) and <\/span>Threads<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>archived<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n Online searches revealed<\/a> no<\/a> credible<\/a> reports<\/a> that S\u00e1nchez<\/span> had actually announced a new law imposing five-year prison sentences on anyone who insulted the Prophet Muhammed and Islam (archived<\/a>, archived<\/a>, archived<\/a>, archived<\/a>). Reputable outlets like Reuters or The Associated Press would have reported on the matter if S\u00e1nchez had proposed it or announced it as law<\/span>.<\/p>\n Neither “Muhammad,” “Mahoma” (a Spanish version of the Prophet Muhammad’s name) nor “Islam” featured in the latest version of the Spanish penal code<\/a>, which would have included such a law. The image that accompanied the claim, which showed S\u00e1nchez holding a Quran, appeared to have been edited using artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Given the above, we rate this claim false, meaning S\u00e1nchez didn’t make the claimed announcement.<\/p>\n Snopes contacted the Spanish government, which S\u00e1nchez<\/span> heads, to ask about the alleged announcement and await a reply to our query.<\/p>\n If S\u00e1nchez had announced a newly-passed law against criticizing Islam, the law would have appeared in the latest edition of the country’s <\/span>criminal code<\/span><\/a>, the C\u00f3digo Penal. That was not the case, though some of Spain’s existing legislation has outline punishments for free speech offenses for decades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The penal code has made promoting or inciting hatred or hostility against groups \u2014 including religious groups \u2014 punishable by at least a year in prison since 1996. In 2015, Spain increased the maximum prison term for such offenses from three to four years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The most recent version of the relevant law, Section 1 of Article 510 of the C\u00f3digo Penal from 2022, <\/span>called<\/span><\/a> for a one-to-four-year prison sentence and fine for people who:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n … publicly foster, promote, or incite, directly or indirectly, hatred, hostility, discrimination, or violence against a group, a part thereof, or a specific person on the grounds of their membership in that group.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n People who “produce, create, possess with the intent to distribute” material that “is suitable for fostering, promoting, or inciting, directly or indirectly, hatred, hostility, discrimination, or violence against a group,” could also face the same punishment, according to Section 1.<\/p>\n Section 2 of Article 510 called for up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine for people who “injure the dignity of persons through actions that entail humiliation, contempt or discrediting” of various groups defined in Section 1 that included religious groups.<\/p>\n The punishment for crimes defined in Section 2 could increase to match the one-to-four-year prison sentence and fine that courts gave out for Section 1 offenses if the Section 2 offense promoted or favored “a climate of violence, hostility, hatred or discrimination against the aforementioned groups.”<\/span><\/p>\n Article 510 did not specifically mention Islam or the Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n Aside from a lack of evidence in reports or legal records of S\u00e1nchez’s claimed announcement, the image that circulated alongside the claim served to further discredit it.<\/p>\n That image, which appeared to show S\u00e1nchez holding a Quran, appeared to have been edited using artificial intelligence. It appeared to be based on <\/span>photos<\/span><\/a> of S\u00e1nchez <\/span>speaking<\/span><\/a> about the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine at a news conference in Slovakia in 2022. The 2022 photos did not show S\u00e1nchez holding a Quran.<\/span><\/p>\n Closer inspection of said Quran revealed someone had edited the image of S\u00e1nchez. According to online searches, the Quran S\u00e1nchez held closely resembled a <\/span>Mushaf al-Madinah<\/span><\/a> edition Quran. <\/span>The AI or person that edited the Quran into S\u00e1nchez’ hand incorrectly replicated the <\/span>front cover<\/span><\/a>, omitting details from the top right and left corners and revealing the image to be fake.<\/span><\/p>\n DeepL.com provided translations from Arabic and Spanish into English.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n BOE-A-1995-25444 Ley Org\u00e1nica 10\/1995, de 23 de Noviembre, Del C\u00f3digo Penal. https:\/\/www.boe.es\/buscar\/act.php?id=BOE-A-1995-25444<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n ‘EPA Images | Visualize a Wider World’. EPA, https:\/\/epaimages.com\/search.pp<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n Espa\u00f1a Islam Profeta Mahoma 5 A\u00f1os de Prisi\u00f3n – Search News. https:\/\/www.bing.com\/news\/search?q=Espa%C3%B1a+islam+profeta+Mahoma+5+a%C3%B1os+de+prisi%C3%B3n&qs=n&form=QBNT&sp=-1&lq=0&pq=%22el+sagrado+cor%C3%A1n+es+respetado+en+nuestro+pa%C3%ADs+y+cualquiera+que+insulte+al+profeta+mahoma+o+a+la+religi%C3%B3n+isl%C3%A1mica+se+enfrentar%C3%A1+a+pena+de+prisi%C3%B3n+de+5+a%C3%B1os%22&sc=0-157&sk=&cvid=262FC1348B6944F58D63DD34C743CA9E<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n Espa\u00f1a Islam Profeta Mahoma 5 A\u00f1os de Prisi\u00f3n – Yahoo Search Results. https:\/\/news.search.yahoo.com\/search;_ylt=A2RRjuuB_rxpoAQAOsfQtDMD;_ylc=X1MDNTM3MjAyNzIEX3IDMgRmcgN5ZnAtdARmcjIDc2ItdG9wBGdwcmlkA0dabmQzd1BQVElTbEd2Z1NCLi5YSEEEbl9yc2x0AzAEbl9zdWdnAzAEb3JpZ2luA25ld3Muc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAzAEcXN0cmwDNDUEcXVlcnkDRXNwYSVDMyVCMWElMjBpc2xhbSUyMHByb2ZldGElMjBNYWhvbWElMjA1JTIwYSVDMyVCMW9zJTIwZGUlMjBwcmlzaSVDMyVCM24EdF9zdG1wAzE3NzM5OTM3MTc-?p=Espa%C3%B1a+islam+profeta+Mahoma+5+a%C3%B1os+de+prisi%C3%B3n&fr=yfp-t&fr2=sb-top<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n Espa\u00f1a Islam Profeta Mahoma 5 A\u00f1os de Prisi\u00f3n at DuckDuckGo. https:\/\/duckduckgo.com\/?q=Espa%C3%B1a+islam+profeta+Mahoma+5+a%C3%B1os+de+prisi%C3%B3n&iar=news&t=h_<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n Google Search. https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=Espa%C3%B1a+islam+profeta+Mahoma+5+a%C3%B1os+de+prisi%C3%B3n&sca_esv=3d0acf0c92308fb4&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB1138GB1138&biw=1920&bih=845&tbm=nws&sxsrf=ANbL-n5Sdpx-WUKJCmQA6j_asfH0rGhM8A%3A1773993588809&ei=dP68aaiRMd6JptQPx7Lh8Q4&ved=0ahUKEwiom8eNga6TAxXehIkEHUdZOO4Q4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=Espa%C3%B1a+islam+profeta+Mahoma+5+a%C3%B1os+de+prisi%C3%B3n&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LW5ld3MiMEVzcGHDsWEgaXNsYW0gcHJvZmV0YSBNYWhvbWEgNSBhw7FvcyBkZSBwcmlzacOzbjIFEAAY7wUyBRAAGO8FMgUQABjvBTIFEAAY7wUyCBAAGIAEGKIESJM2UABY-TRwAXgAkAEAmAG9AaABugSqAQMwLjS4AQPIAQD4AQH4AQKYAgSgAtUEqAIAwgIFECEYoAGYAwOSBwMwLjSgB98PsgcDMC40uAfVBMIHAzItNMgHEIAIAQ&sclient=gws-wiz-news<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n ‘Mushaf Al-Madinah – Original Large Format (20×28 Cm)’. SifatuSafwa, https:\/\/www.sifatusafwa.com\/en\/quran-mushaf\/mushaf-al-madinah-original-large-format-20×28-cm.html<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n Pedro S\u00e1nchez Calls for Urgent EU Action on Electricity Costs and Expresses Solidarity with Slovakia in the Ukraine Crisis. https:\/\/www.lamoncloa.gob.es\/lang\/en\/presidente\/news\/paginas\/2022\/20220316_visit-to-slovakia.aspx<\/a>. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.<\/p>\n Sinai, Nicolai. ‘Muhammad’. Britannica, 9 Mar. 2026, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Muhammad.\n
There is no place among us for those who insult religions<\/p>\nNo evidence of S\u00e1nchez announcement in Spanish law<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Fake image further discredited claim<\/h2>\n
Sources:<\/h4>\n
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