High Court to hear Quran burning case today

Today, the High Court will hear the case of Hamit Coskun, who burned a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in London. In June last year, he was convicted of religiously motivated harassment, alarm or distress, which was overturned on appeal in October. However, the Crown Prosecution Service has continued to pursue the case to the High Court. Humanists UK has expressed its alarm at the CPS’s move, which risks reintroducing a blasphemy law in England and Wales by the back door.

When handing down his judgment at the appeal in October, the judge affirmed that the burning of a Quran is not a crime in and of itself as there is no actual victim of hostility on a racial or religious basis. In this case, the appeal judge stated that Coskun’s conduct was found not to be aimed at a specific person or specific people. The Turkish Embassy is a known political building and is therefore a reasonable place to protest. The defendant was by himself so could not be said to be intimidating. No passersby were scared into running away. Further, after Coskun burned the Quran he was attacked by a man who took offence to his actions. The criminal behaviour of that man was found not to make Coskun’s actions criminal. However, The Times reports that CPS says ‘Coskun’s use of the words “f*** Islam” and “Islam is the religion of terrorism” were an “attack against a religious group, linking the group as a whole with terrorism”, and could not be dismissed as “intemperate criticism or protest against the tenets of the Muslim religion”.’

A Humanists UK spokesperson said:

‘We’ve been following this case closely, and are extremely disappointed that CPS is challenging the decision of the Crown Court. We hope the High Court will settle this matter once and for all by upholding the right to freedom of expression. The free exchange of ideas is necessary for a plural, democratic society to flourish.’

Humanists UK successfully campaigned for the abolition of blasphemy laws in England and Wales in 2008, welcomed their repeal in Scotland in 2024, and continues to campaign for the end of blasphemy laws in Northern Ireland and around the world. Humanists UK regularly intervenes at the UN Human Rights Council to remind states that blasphemy laws (such as those against damaging religious books) are not compatible with freedom of speech nor the UN Rabat Plan on hate crime. Countries with blasphemy laws typically see much more religious violence of this kind than those without. Instead, the state has a duty to treat violence and violent threats with the utmost seriousness. Following Denmark’s decision to introduce a Quran-burning blasphemy law and similar calls made in the UK in 2024, Humanists UK received reassurances from Downing Street that no such laws would be introduced here.