A protester who was fined for burning a copy of the Koran while shouting ‘f*** Islam’ has won an appeal against his conviction.
Hamit Coskun, 51, was found guilty earlier this year of a religiously aggravated public order offence after he set fire to the book outside the Turkish consulate in London.
But, backed by free speech campaigners, he successfully appealed against the conviction, with a judge finding in his favour at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.
Mr Justice Bennathan said: ‘The prosecution have not succeeded in making us sure that the defendant’s conduct has been disorderly or that it was within the hearing or sight of someone who could become harassed, alarmed, or distressed.’
Coskun said he burned the Koran to highlight how Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s constitutionally secular government had become an ‘Islamist regime’.
During the protest in February, he was attacked by a knifeman and has since been assaulted near his home.
Turkey-born Coskun, who is half-Kurdish and half-Armenian and lives in England, had his legal case funded by the National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union.
He said he had come to this country to ‘be able to speak freely about the dangers of radical Islam’, adding he is now ‘reassured’ that he is ‘free to educate the British public about my beliefs’.
Hamit Coskun (pictured) was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court of a religiously aggravated public order offence and fined £240 after he burned a Koran
During the protest Mr Coskun was attacked by a knifeman. The attacker, Moussa Kadri, 59, was given a suspended sentence, last month
In a statement following the ruling, he said: ‘I want to thank the Free Speech Union, the National Secular Society, all my lawyers, the MPs who have supported me and the judges for the decision today.
‘I came to England, having been persecuted in Turkey, to be able to speak freely about the dangers of radical Islam.
‘I am reassured that – despite many troubling developments – I will now be free to educate the British public about my beliefs.’
The Free Speech Union hailed the ruling, saying it sends a message that ‘anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated’.
Lord Toby Young of Acton, director of the union, which helped fund Coskun’s legal case, said: ‘We’re delighted.
‘Had the verdict been allowed to stand it would have sent a message to religious fundamentalists up and down the country that all they need to do to enforce their blasphemy codes is to violently attack the blasphemer, thereby making him or her guilty of having caused public disorder.
‘Instead, the Crown Court has sent the opposite message – that anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated.’
Meanwhile, the Free Speech Union added in a statement on X: ‘The Free Speech Union is delighted that Hamit Coskun’s appeal has been successful.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick (left) walks with Coskun outside Southwark Crown Court yesterday
‘Hamit was convicted under the Public Order Act for burning a copy of the Koran during a lawful protest against the rise of political Islam and authorities in Turkey under President Erdoğan’s regime.
‘The court conflated his political protest against Islam with hatred of Muslims, effectively reviving blasphemy law by the back door. ‘
Coskun’s appeal case was attended this week by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick.
He said while he did not agree with what Coskun had done, he didn’t think ‘it was a crime’.
Mr Jenrick and other campaigners had argued the prosecution and conviction was akin to blasphemy being reintroduced ‘by the back door, inadvertently, by our court service’.
Blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and in Scotland in 2021.
In Northern Ireland such laws date back to the early 19th century and, while rarely used, blasphemy and blasphemous libel remain offences.
Coskun’s trial in June saw him convicted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of a religiously aggravated public order offence. He was fined £240.
This is a breaking news story – more to follow
