LONDON, June 3 (Alliance News): A 50-year-old Turkish-born man, Hamit Coskun, was found guilty on Monday of a religiously aggravated public order offence after desecrating the Holy Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London earlier this year.
According to Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Coskun shouted anti-Islamic slurs, including “Islam is religion of terrorism,” as he publicly set fire to the Quran in February. District Judge John McGarva ruled that Coskun’s behaviour was intended to cause harassment and distress, driven by “hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam.”
The court fined Coskun £240, with an additional £96 statutory surcharge.
“Your actions in burning the Quran where you did were highly provocative,” said Judge McGarva. “Your actions were accompanied by bad language… and were motivated at least in part by hatred of followers of the religion.”
Prosecutors clarified that Coskun was not being prosecuted for burning the Quran itself, but for disorderly conduct. “He is being prosecuted for his disorderly behaviour in public,” said Philip McGhee of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Video footage presented in court showed a passerby filming the incident, during which another man — allegedly carrying a knife — approached Coskun and appeared to attack him.
Coskun, who identifies as an atheist and is currently seeking asylum in the UK, claimed he was protesting against the Turkish government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He also posted about the incident on social media.
His legal defence was supported by the Free Speech Union (FSU) and the National Secular Society. Both groups argued that Coskun’s conviction resembled enforcement of blasphemy laws, which were officially repealed in the UK in 2008.
The FSU, expressing disappointment on X, said, “Everyone should be able to exercise their rights to protest peacefully and to freedom of expression, regardless of how offensive or upsetting it may be to some people.”
In a statement released through the FSU, Coskun described the verdict as “an assault on free speech.” He questioned whether similar punishment would have been imposed had he burned a Bible instead.
“Christian blasphemy laws were repealed in this country more than 15 years ago, and it cannot be right to prosecute someone for blaspheming against Islam,” he stated.
The case has sparked wider debate on the limits of freedom of expression and whether UK law fairly balances public order concerns with freedom of speech.
