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A man has been fined after he set fire to a Qur’an outside the Turkish consulate in London, in an act that was deemed “motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims” by a judge.
Hamit Coskun, 50, who was found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence on Monday, called his prosecution “an assault on free speech”.
In February, Coskun travelled from his home in the Midlands to Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, where he set fire to a copy of the Islamic holy book and shouted “fuck Islam”, “Islam is religion of terrorism” and “Qur’an is burning”.
Coskun, who was born in Turkey and is half Kurdish and half Armenian, argued in court that he had protested peacefully and burning the Qur’an amounted to freedom of expression.
Judge McGarva found that Coskun’s actions were “highly provocative” and said he was “motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims”. Coskun had argued his criticism was of Islam in general rather than its followers but McGarva said he could not accept this.
Coskun’s legal fees are being paid by the National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, both of which criticised the ruling and said they intended to appeal “and keep on appealing it until it’s overturned”.
The advocacy group Muslim Engagement and Development quoted the judge’s sentencing remarks on X, commenting on the ruling with the hashtag #hatespeechisnotfreespeech.
The ruling has prompted comment from figures in Westminster. The prime minister’s official spokesperson declined to comment on the case but said there were no blasphemy laws in England nor were there plans to introduce any.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, said on X that the case “should go to appeal”. “Freedom of belief, and freedom not to believe, are inalienable rights in Britain,” she said. “I’ll defend those rights to my dying day.”
McGarva, who issued a fine of £240, rejected the idea that the prosecution was “an attempt to bring back and expand blasphemy law”.
In his ruling, he said burning a religious book and making criticism of Islam or the Qur’an are “not necessarily disorderly”, but added: “What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language.”
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The judge said Coskun, who is an atheist, had a “deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers” based on his experiences in Turkey and the experiences of his family, and that it was “not possible to separate his views about the religion from his views about its followers”.
The judge said: “A criminal conviction is a proportionate response to the defendant’s conduct.
“I am sure that the defendant acted in a disorderly way by burning the Qur’an very obviously in front of the Turkish consulate, where there were people who were likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress and accompanying his provocative act with bad language.
“I am sure that he was motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims. I therefore find the defendant guilty.”
