High Court Upholds Acquittal of Quran-Burner
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has failed in its High Court attempt to overturn the acquittal of Hamit Coskun, who burned a Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London.
Coskun was originally convicted in June last year of a religiously aggravated public order offence after he held a burning copy of the Islamic holy book aloft and shouted an expletive about Islam outside the Turkish embassy in February 2023.
However, the 51-year-old successfully appealed against his conviction, which was overturned by Mr Justice Bennathan at Southwark Crown Court in October 2023.
The CPS subsequently appealed this decision at the High Court, requesting a reconsideration of the ruling.
Knife Attack During Protest
On Friday, Lord Justice Warby and Ms Justice Obi dismissed the CPS appeal, stating:
"We are not persuaded that the court left any material factor out of account or relied on any immaterial factor."
Following the appeal dismissal, the Free Speech Union described the outcome as a "humiliating defeat" for the CPS and called for the resignation of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
During a hearing earlier in February, CPS lawyers argued that Mr Justice Bennathan erred in concluding that Coskun's conduct was not "disorderly" and that, if it was, it was unlikely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress.
Coskun, who has been provided accommodation by the Home Office due to threats following his protest, attended the hearing in London and opposed the legal challenge.
Coskun, an atheist, also shouted phrases such as "Islam is religion of terrorism" and "Quran is burning" during his demonstration in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge.
During the protest, a man emerged from a nearby building and attacked Coskun with a large knife, later telling police he was defending his religion.
The attacker, Moussa Kadri, received a suspended jail sentence in September 2023.
Reactions to the Decision
Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, commented on the ruling:
"The High Court has rightly rejected this wrongheaded attempt to introduce a blasphemy law by the back door. However offensive some may have found the Quran-burning protest, it was lawful. Criminal law protects people from harm, not from being offended. This judgment makes clear that it is not the state's job to police religious sensibilities. A hostile – even violent – reaction to speech cannot be allowed to determine whether that speech is criminal. There must now be a serious review of how and why the CPS originally came to charge a man with causing harassment, alarm and distress to the religion of Islam, and why it chose to pursue this case to the High Court. Public confidence demands answers."
Following the High Court's ruling, Lord Young of Acton, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, stated:
"This appeal should never have been brought by the Crown Prosecution Service, just as Hamit should never have been prosecuted. We have not had blasphemy laws in this country for 18 years and, for that reason, this prosecution was bound to fail. Yet the CPS has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds trying to bring one back via the back door – and one that just enforces Muslim blasphemy codes, not Christian ones. In light of this humiliating defeat, I think the Director of Public Prosecutions has no choice but to resign."
A CPS spokesperson said:
"There is no law to prosecute people for 'blasphemy', and burning a religious text on its own is not a criminal act – our case was always that Hamit Coskun's words, choice of location and burning of the Quran amounted to disorderly behaviour, and that at the time he demonstrated hostility towards a religious group. The High Court has made a ruling we will review its decision carefully."
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