A man is convicted and fined for burning a copy of the Quran in London
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LONDON (AP) — A man who burned a copy of the Quran and shouted “Islam is religion of terrorism” outside the Turkish consulate in London was convicted Monday of a religiously aggravated public order offense and fined.
Free speech campaign groups raised concerns that his conviction was against the freedom of expression and vowed to appeal.
Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted “f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) Islam” while holding a burning Quran aloft outside the Turkish consulate on Feb. 13. He argued in court that he had protested peacefully.
District Judge John McGarva said his conduct was “provocative and taunting” and likely to have caused harassment, alarm or distress, and that it was “motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims.”
“Burning a religious book, although offensive to some, is not necessarily disorderly,” the judge said. “What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language.”
Prosecutors said that Coskun, originally from Turkey, had posted on social media that he was protesting against the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who Coskun alleged “has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists.”
He was fined 240 pounds ($325).
The National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, which paid for Coskun’s legal fees, said the conviction jeopardized freedom of expression and that they intend to appeal “and keep on appealing it until it’s overturned.”
They said they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
In a statement issued through the Free Speech Union, Coskun said “it cannot be right to prosecute someone for blaspheming against Islam.”
“This decision is an assault on free speech and will deter others from exercising their democratic rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression,” he said. “As an activist, I will continue to campaign against the threat of Islam.”
Robert Jenrick, from the opposition Conservative Party, said on social media platform X that the ruling “revives a blasphemy law” that Parliament repealed in 2008 following a campaign by secularists.
Dave Pares, spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, told reporters: “We have no blasphemy laws in England and there are no plans to introduce any.”