A London court has convicted a 50-year-old Turkish-born man, Hamit Coskun, for a religiously aggravated public order offense after he burned a Quran outside the Turkish consulate on February 13. During the incident, Coskun shouted inflammatory remarks such as “Islam is religion of terrorism” and “Quran is burning.”
District Judge John McGarva, presiding at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, found that Coskun’s actions were intentionally offensive and likely to cause alarm or distress. The judge emphasized that Coskun was motivated by hostility toward Muslims and imposed a £240 fine along with a £96 surcharge.
Prosecutors clarified that the case was not about punishing the act of burning the Quran itself, but rather Coskun’s disorderly conduct in a public setting. A bystander’s video showed another individual, possibly armed with a knife, confronting Coskun during the protest.
Coskun, who identifies as an atheist and is seeking asylum in the UK, claimed he was demonstrating against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. His legal defense was supported by the Free Speech Union and the National Secular Society, who argued the case set a troubling precedent for free expression. The Free Speech Union criticized the ruling as “deeply disappointing.”
