Anti-blasphemy attacker who ‘lost his temper’ spared jail

A man who attacked a Quran-burning protester with a knife in central London to ‘protect [his] religion’ has avoided jail time despite pleading guilty to the assault. Instead, Moussa Kadri, has been given a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, 150 hours of unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation. 

In the sentencing remarks, the judge summarised that Kadri ‘lost [his] temper’ as he was ‘deeply offended’ by the burning of the Quran. He threatened and insulted the protester, Hamit Coskun, and told him he was ‘going to kill him’ before returning ‘armed with a knife’ and carrying out ‘a very frightening and violent attack’. The judge explained that Kari’s sentence was mitigated due to his previous exemplary character, his being relied upon as a carer, his charity work, and remorse. 

Humanists UK has expressed its alarm at the light sentence and condemned the blasphemy-motivated violence. It will also be writing to the Home Office for an update on the department’s progress implementing the conclusions of the Khan and Walney reviews, both of which examined ways of countering ‘blasphemy-linked’ violence and extremism.

A tale of two trials

Hamit Coskun was convicted of a public disorder offence following a trial in June. He had burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy, which he said was an  act of protest against the Erdoğan regime. However, the judge in his case found that his actions were motivated at least in part by hostility towards Muslims due to his opinions expressed during a police interview following the incident. Humanists UK did not endorse those views but at the time expressed concern that prosecution for a peaceful act of protest against a religion ran dangerously close to reinstating a blasphemy law. 

In the sentencing remarks, the judge told Kadri that his actions were disgraceful but issued him only a suspended sentence, sparing him jail time because he found that the chance of repeating the crime was ‘almost non-existent’. He also said in court that Kadri had ‘lost his temper’ at ‘what he perceived as a deeply offensive act.’ 

Coskun, meanwhile, was convicted and fined £336 by the courts. He is currently appealing his conviction and remains in hiding after receiving death threats from Islamic extremists.

The judge in Coskun’s case was clear that he did not ‘find that this prosecution [wa]s an attempt to bring back and expand blasphemy law’ by saying he did not think that burning a religious text was automatically a crime. However, Humanists UK is concerned that his conviction was based on views not expressed during the incident. In an illustrative case, an ex-Muslim, who may hold prejudicial views about their former community because of their experiences, may find themselves more liable to conviction for a similar act of protest, even if those views are not publicly expressed.

Worryingly, in Coskun’s case, the fact that he had been attacked because ‘someone took exception to burning his holy book’ was accepted by the judge as evidence that supported his actions were indeed  carried out in the presence of someone likely to be distressed by them, and were therefore a contributing factor in his conviction.. 

Violence against ‘blasphemers’ is a growing problem

The Crown Prosecution Service has attempted three prosecutions this year for people accused of public order breaches after criticising religion. In a parallel with Koskun’s case, a Christian street preacher in Walsall faced similar charges after publicly denouncing the Quran, but his case was dismissed in March after a judge concluded the CPS had not brought sufficient evidence of any crime. Like Coskun, he was also attacked with a knife. A man who burned a Quran in Manchester said he did so in protest after a Swedish man was assassinated awaiting the verdict of his trial for a similar offence.

Humanists UK’s Faith to Faithless support programme received a sharp uptick in calls from former Muslims distressed about the potential re-criminalisation of blasphemy while Coskun’s case was in the news. It regularly receives phone calls to its helpline from ex-Muslims and so-called ‘apostates’ from other religions who have experienced assault or who have been threatened with violence for blasphemy or after leaving a religion. 

A spokesperson for Humanists UK said:

‘One of the distinctive hallmarks of blasphemy-motivated violence and religious extremism around the world is that the attackers almost always feel their attacks were entirely justified.

‘If the law is to deter acts of violence recurring in future, its first duty is not to silence those who peacefully criticise or protest religions – even when they do so in unpleasant ways. Instead, it should make clear that those who commit acts of violence, for whatever reason, will always feel the full force of the law.’