Court convicts half-Armenian man for burning Quran outside London’s Turkish consulate
Hamit Coskun, 50, was fined $325 at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being convicted of being disorderly by shouting “F*** Islam.”
The lawyer for Coskun, whose father was Kurdish and his mother Armenian and who lived in central England, had argued that the prosecution amounted to an attempt to bring back a blasphemy law that was abolished in England in 2008.
Denying the charge
Coskun had denied the charge and said on social media he was carrying out a protest against the Turkish government. While he was holding the book aloft, he was attacked by a man with a knife who kicked and spat at him.
“Burning a religious book, although offensive, to some is not necessarily disorderly,” said Judge John McGarva.
“What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language. There was no need for him to use the ‘F word’ and direct it towards Islam.”
The National Secular Society (NSS), which helped pay his legal fees, said the prosecution was “a significant blow to freedom of expression,” a sentiment echoed by the main opposition Conservative Party.
“Britain has no blasphemy laws. Yet this verdict creates one de facto,” the party posted on X. “Parliament never voted for it. The British people do not want it. This decision is wrong.”
