Overview

• Hamit Coskun is charged with a religiously aggravated public order offence after burning a Koran and shouting anti-Islam slogans outside the Turkish consulate on February 13.
• Prosecutors told Westminster Magistrates’ Court that his actions crossed the line from political protest to behaviour posing a clear threat to public order.
• Defence counsel Katy Thorne KC argued that the prosecution effectively revives a blasphemy offence abolished in 2008 and amounts to an abuse of process.
• The Free Speech Union and National Secular Society are covering Coskun’s legal fees to defend the right to critique religion without criminal liability.
• Both sides have rested their cases and a further hearing is set for Thursday afternoon, with a verdict to follow thereafter.