Blasphemy Law: Man Convicted for Burning Qur’an During London Protest

Britain’s liberal-leaning judiciary has effectively created new blasphemy laws, free speech campaigners argued, after a man was convicted of a crime for setting fire to a Qur’an in London earlier this year.

Hamit Coskun, 50, a Turkish-born Armenian-Kurdish atheist who migrated to Britain, was convicted on Monday of a “religiously aggravated public order offence” over a February protest in which he set fire to the Qur’an outside the Turkish consulate in London.

Coskun, who was protesting the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, claiming that it promoted radical Islam and sought to institute a Sharia system in the NATO country, exclaimed “fuck Islam”, “Islam is religion of terrorism” and the “Quran is burning” as he set the text on fire, the Times of London reported.

During the protest, Coskun was attacked by a man with a blade, who slashed at him and kicked him as he fell to the ground. The assailant, whose name has been withheld from the public, has pleaded guilty to assault.

Coskun argued that the protest should have been protected under free expression. However, District Judge John McGarva, who imposed a fine of £240 and a surcharge of £96, argued that his actions were “highly provocative” and that they were “motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims”.

In his verdict, Judge McGrava said: “After considering the evidence, I find you have a deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers. That’s based on your experiences in Turkey and the experiences of your family. It’s not possible to separate your views about the religion to your views about the followers.

“I do accept that the choice of location was in part that you wanted to protest what you see as the Islamification of Turkey. But you were also motivated by the hatred of Muslims and knew some would be at the location.”

The case has sparked accusations that blasphemy laws are being reintroduced in Britain by the back door after the parliament abolished it as an offence in the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act. It is stated the courts, by agreeing with the prosecutor that a crime had taken place, have subverted the expressed will of the democratically elected law-making parliament by re-interpreting laws to create new offences, like burning a religious text.

In a statement following the ruling, Coskun noted: “Christian blasphemy laws were repealed in this country more than 15 years ago, and it cannot be right to prosecute someone for blaspheming against Islam. Would I have been prosecuted if I’d set fire to a copy of the bible outside Westminster Abbey? I doubt it.”

He blasted the decision as an “assault on free speech” that would serve to intimidate others from expressing their free speech. Despite the fine, Coskun vowed to continue to “campaign against the threat of Islam.”

The Free Speech Union (FSU), which represented Coskun during the trial, said that it plans to appeal the decision.

“Religious tolerance is an important British value, but it doesn’t require non-believers to respect the blasphemy codes of believers. On the contrary, it requires people of faith to tolerate those who criticise and protest against their religion, just as their values and beliefs are tolerated,” the FSU said.

The issue of burning Qur’ans has become increasingly contentious in Europe, with previous protests sparking violent riots in nations such as Sweden. The pushback in Sweden took a fatal turn earlier this year after Iraqi-born Salwan Momika, a prominent critic of Islam who had burned the text on multiple occasions, was shot and killed in his home outside of Stockholm.

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