Overview

• Hamit Coskun, a 50-year-old Turkish-Armenian asylum seeker, set fire to a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in Knightsbridge on February 13 while shouting anti-Islamic slurs in protest against President Erdoğan’s government.
• District Judge John McGarva ruled Coskun’s conduct amounted to a religiously aggravated public order offence, describing the act as “highly provocative” and motivated by hatred of Muslims.
• At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 2, Coskun was ordered to pay a £240 fine alongside a £96 statutory surcharge following his conviction.
• The National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, which covered Coskun’s legal fees, contend that the prosecution effectively revives blasphemy laws and poses a threat to freedom of expression.
• Coskun intends to challenge the verdict, with campaigners prepared to pursue appeals up to the European Court of Human Rights amid renewed scrutiny of free speech limits in the UK