A man has been found guilty of an offence after burning a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London, in a case that sparked debate over the freedom of expression.
Hamit Coskun was accused of shouting “f*** Islam” and “Islam is religion of terrorism” as he held up a burning copy of the holy Islamic text in Knightsbridge, London, in February.
He was found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence.
Delivering the verdict, district judge McGarva said: “Your actions in burning the Koran where you did were highly provocative, and your actions were accompanied by bad language in some cases directed toward the religion and were motivated at least in part by hatred of followers of the religion.”
The National Secular Society (NSS), which jointly with another organisation paid his legal fees, said the verdict “jeopardises” free expression.
The 50-year-old denied using disorderly behaviour “within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress”, motivated by “hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam”, contrary to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Public Order Act 1986.
He had also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of using disorderly behaviour “within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress”, contrary to section five of the Public Order Act 1986.
The charges were alternative, meaning only one or the other would apply, but not both.
Prosecutors said Coskun had written on social media he was protesting the “Islamist government” of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had “made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a Sharia regime”.
Mr Erdogan, who has been in power for over 20 years, leads the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which, while created from former Islamist movements and having a strong religious base, describes itself as a conservative-democratic party and has strongly denied being Islamist.
Barrister Katy Thorne KC, defending, last week argued the prosecution was effectively trying to revive blasphemy laws, which were abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and Scotland in 2021.
Coskun, who has both Kurdish and Armenian heritage but was born in Turkey, travelled from his home in the Midlands and set fire to the Koran on the afternoon of 13 February, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard last week.
Footage aired in court showed another man confronting Coskun, allegedly holding a knife and saying: “It’s my religion, you don’t burn the Koran.”
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: “The outcome of this case is a significant blow to freedom of expression and signals a concerning capitulation to Islamic blasphemy codes.”
He said it establishes “heckler’s veto” that incentivises “violent responses to suppress views deemed offensive”.
“Such an erosion of free speech is detrimental to community relations. Social cohesion is best achieved not by restricting rights but by fostering their free exercise.”
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