I was searching the papers for material for an essay I intended to write on the puberty blockers trial in the UK. What caught my eye was a headline in the Telegraph, entitled Koran burner wins landmark blasphemy case. Before I read the article I knew the facts of the case and was surprised that it had resurfaced. As you can see from my article entitled Free Speech , a Mr Hamit Coskun was convicted of a religiously aggravated public order office for burning a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish Consulate. He subsequently appealed the conviction before Mr Justice Bennathan at Southwark Crown Court in October. The hearing centered around Mr Coskun’s right of Freedom of Speech and the conviction was overturned by Justice Bennathan, who in summing up said, ”
“One of the precious rights that affords us is to express our own views and read, hear and consider ideas without the state intervening to stop us doing so.” ‘The price we pay for that is having to allow others to exercise the same rights, even if that upsets, offends or shocks us.” The Daily Mail 10/10/25
At this point I thought that the case had been settled and another blow for free speech had been struck! That is, until I saw the article in the Telegraph which reported that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had appealed the Crown Court decision to overturn Mr Coskun’s conviction.
The Appeal was heard before Lord Justice Warby and Ms Justice Obi who heard the CPS claim that Judge Bennathan was in error in his decision. The CPS claimed that the original charge was not an attempt to reintroduce the Blasphemy Laws or, to infringe on his free speech rights. This is despite the original charge being, harassing the “religious institution of Islam”. This was subsequently changed to the “religiously aggravated” public order charge. The religious aspect of the alleged offense was emphasised by the magistrate’s findings that Mr Coskun’s actions were motivated by religious hatred. In response, the defense claimed that burning a book was not, in itself, proof of a public order offense and that Mr Coskun was exercising his right to protest his beliefs. The High Court found that there was no error in Mr Justice Bennathan’s finding and that the CPS had not offered anything new in Law or Fact to change it. Do we think that we have finally killed off this prosecution? I am not convinced. The CPS went to great lengths to pursue a simple public order offense and received a bloody nose in the Crown and High Courts as a result . The only difference between this case and any other Saturday night offense, ending up in the Magistrates Court, was the religious connection. To those who believe that this government operates a two tier justice system, under the direction of UK Attorney General, Richard Hermer, this looks like the CPS representing its Muslim clients, rather than the general public. I think that Mr Coskun is safe for now but who is going to be next?
Sources
Will Bolton, 27/02/26, The Telegraph, Koran burner wins landmark blasphemy case, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/27/koran-burner-wins-landmark-blasphemy-case/
OLIVIA CHRISTIE, 10/10/25, Daily Mail, Koran-burning protester wins appeal against conviction for a religiously aggravated public order offence after arguing his actions are protected under free speech, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15180897/Protester-Koran-conviction-appeal-win.html
https://spectator.com/article/the-cps-has-failed-to-create-an-islamic-blasphemy-law/?group=2cards&card=2