A man who desecrated a copy of the Sacred Koran outside the Turkish Consulate in London was convicted on Monday to commit a crime of public order frequently, in a verdict, critics effectively said a law of abolished blasphemy.
Hamit Coskun, 50, was fined 240 pounds ($ 325) in the London Westminster Magistrates Court after being condemned for being disorderly shouting “F *** Islam” while he had high the ardent book near the consulate in downtown London in February.
Coskun’s lawyer, whose father was Kurdo and his mother Armenia and lived in the center of England, had argued that the Prosecutor’s Office amounted to an attempt to bring back a blasphemy law that was abolished in England in 2008.
Coskun had denied the position and said on social networks that he was carrying out a protest against the Turkish government. While holding the book Alto, he was attacked by a man with a knife who kicked and spit it out.
“Burning a religious book, although offensive, for some is not necessarily messy,” Judge John McGarva said.
“What did his messy behavior was the moment and the location of behavior and that all this was accompanied by abusive language. There was no need to use the ‘word F’ and directed it towards Islam.”
It was motivated by “hostility towards members of a religious group, namely, followers of Islam,” said McGarva.
“His actions in the burning of the Qur’an where you did were highly provocative, and your actions were accompanied by a bad language in some cases directed towards religion and were motivated at least by the hatred of the followers of religion,” said the judge.
State prosecutors insisted that Coskun was not being prosecuted for burning the book.
“He is being prosecuted for his disorderly behavior in public,” said Philip McGhee, for the Crown Prosecutor’s Office.
The National Secular Society (NSS), which helped pay their legal fees, said the Prosecutor’s Office was “a significant blow to freedom of expression”, a resonant feeling for the main opposition conservative party.
“Great Britain has no blasphemy laws. However, this verdict creates a de facto,” the party published in X.
“Parliament never voted for it. The British people do not want it. This decision is incorrect.”
