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.
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.
Overturning the conviction, Mr Justice Bennathan said: ‘There is no offence of blasphemy in our law.
‘Burning a Koran may be an act that many Muslims find desperately upsetting and offensive.
‘The criminal law, however, is not a mechanism that seeks to avoid people being upset, even grievously upset.
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, Coskun was attacked by a knifeman. The attacker, Moussa Kadri, 59, was given a suspended sentence, last month
‘The right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.’
Referring to Coskun’s conduct outside the Turkish consulate earlier this year, Mr Justice Bennathan told Southwark Crown Court: ‘This was clearly political speech or conduct.
‘Insulting conduct is not sufficient and we should be careful not to read down the words we are considering.’
Mr Justice Bennathan also mentioned the fact that Coskun’s actions were not directed at a person or people in particular.
‘We live in a liberal democracy,’ the judge continued.
‘One of the precious rights that affords us is to express our own views and read, hear and consider ideas without the state intervening to stop us doing so.
‘The price we pay for that is having to allow others to exercise the same rights, even if that upsets, offends or shocks us.’
He added: ‘The criminal courts will interfere to protect people.
‘A person who acts so as to cause harassment, alarm or distress to another may commit an offence.’
The court previously heard that Coskun travelled to London on February 13 and positioned himself outside the Turkish Consulate in Rutland Gardens in Knightsbridge.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick (left) walks with Coskun outside Southwark Crown Court yesterday
He then set light to a copy of the Koran and shouted ‘Islam is the religion of terrorists’ and ‘The Koran is burning’.
During the protest, a man who emerged from a nearby building slashed at him with a bread knife, later telling police he was protecting his religion.
The attacker, Moussa Kadri, 59, was given a suspended sentence, last month.
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’.
In a statement following the ruling, Coskun 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’.
HCoskun (centre) arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, central London, in February
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.
‘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.
