The United Kingdom High Court ruled on Friday that the acquittal of Hamit Coskun, a 51-year-old Turkish asylum seeker who burned a copy of the Quran during a protest, should stand. Lord Justice Warby and Ms Justice Obi dismissed the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) bid to reinstate his conviction, stating the Crown Court's decision contained no error of principle or logic.

Coskun set fire to the religious text outside the Turkish consulate in Knightsbridge, London, in February 2025. He shouted phrases including "Islam is the religion of terrorism," "fuck Islam," and "Quran is burning" as part of a demonstration against what he described as Turkey's transformation into a base for radical Islamists. During the protest, he was attacked with a knife by Moussa Kadri, who received a suspended prison sentence for the assault.

Westminster Magistrates' Court convicted Coskun in June 2025 of a religiously aggravated public order offence under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, fining him £240 plus costs. The court found his actions amounted to disorderly behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress, motivated by hostility toward Muslims.

Coskun appealed to Southwark Crown Court, where Mr Justice Bennathan quashed the conviction in October 2025. The judge ruled that freedom of expression, protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, includes the right to express views that "offend, shock, or disturb." He determined Coskun's conduct was not disorderly and unlikely to cause the specified harm.

The CPS then appealed to the High Court, arguing the lower court had erred by not treating the burning of the Quran and Coskun's words separately and by failing to recognize provocation of disorder. The judges rejected this, affirming that the Crown Court had rationally considered all factors and that expressive acts like book-burning fall under free speech protections unless they undermine democratic values.

Coskun, who has been under Home Office protection due to death threats since the incident, welcomed the decision. "In England, I hoped that I would be free to speak about the damage of sectarian politics and Islamism," he said. "I am relieved that after a year, the courts have ruled that I am free to do so."

Campaign groups hailed the ruling as a victory for free speech. Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, which co-funded Coskun's defense, called it a rejection of a "wrongheaded attempt to introduce a blasphemy law by the back door." He added that criminal law protects against harm, not offense, and violent reactions to speech cannot criminalize it. Lord Young of Acton from the Free Speech Union described the prosecution as an effort to revive blasphemy laws abolished in 2008, demanding the resignation of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A CPS spokesperson clarified: "There is no law to prosecute people for 'blasphemy'... our case was always that Hamit Coskun's words, choice of location and burning of the Quran amounted to disorderly behaviour." The service said it would review the judgment.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy emphasized that freedom of expression includes offending specific religions. The case underscores ongoing tensions between public order laws and free speech rights in the UK.