Finance
Man convicted for burning Koran outside London's Turkish consulate
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Hamit Coskun was convicted for burning a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London, raising concerns about blasphemy laws in the UK.
LONDON (Reuters) -A man who set fire to a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London was found guilty on Monday of committing a religiously aggravated public order offence, in a verdict critics said effectively reinstated an abolished blasphemy law.
Hamit Coskun, 50, was fined 240 pounds ($325) at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court after being convicted of being disorderly by shouting "Fuck Islam" as he held aloft the burning book near the consulate in central London in February.
The lawyer for Coskun, whose father was Kurdish and his mother Armenian and who lived in central England, had argued that the prosecution amounted to an attempt to bring back a blasphemy law that was abolished in England in 2008.
Coskun had denied the charge and said on social media he was carrying out a protest against the Turkish government. While he was holding the book aloft, he was attacked by a man with a knife who kicked and spat at him.
"Burning a religious book, although offensive, to some is not necessarily disorderly," said Judge John McGarva.
"What made his conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language. There was no need for him to use the 'F word' and direct it towards Islam."
The National Secular Society (NSS), which helped pay his legal fees, said the prosecution was "a significant blow to freedom of expression", a sentiment echoed by the main opposition Conservative Party.
"Britain has no blasphemy laws. Yet this verdict creates one de facto," the party posted on X. "Parliament never voted for it. The British people do not want it. This decision is wrong."
($1 = 0.7395 pounds)
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Hamit Coskun was found guilty of committing a religiously aggravated public order offence and fined 240 pounds ($325) at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Coskun claimed he was protesting against the Turkish government, despite the controversial nature of his actions.
Judge John McGarva stated that while burning a religious book is offensive, it was the timing, location, and abusive language that made Coskun's conduct disorderly.
The National Secular Society described the prosecution as a significant blow to freedom of expression and supported Coskun by helping pay his legal fees.
The Conservative Party criticized the verdict, claiming it creates a de facto blasphemy law and stating that the British people do not want such a decision.
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