An appeal against a Crown Court decision to quash the conviction of a man who burned a Quran is “really hopeless”, the High Court has heard.
Today the Crown Prosecution Service brought forward its appeal against Hamit Coskun, whose conviction of a religiously aggravated public order offence for burning a Quran in a protest was overturned in October.
In February Coskun, who is an asylum seeker from Turkey, burned a Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London while shouting “Islam is religion of terrorism”. He said his demonstration was a protest against policies which are turning Turkey into a “base for radical Islamists”.
He was then attacked by two men, one armed with a knife.
Judgement has been reserved following today’s hearing but is expected to be delivered soon.
The National Secular Society has co-funded Coskun’s defence throughout the case.
CPS: Burning a book in residential London “is in itself disorderly”, especially “holy text”
Coskun was originally found guilty of an offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act which criminalises using words or behaving in a disorderly manner, or displaying material that is likely to harass, intimidate or distress others.
He was also found guilty under section 31(1)(c) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which makes the public order offence “religiously aggravated”.
But overturning the conviction, the Crown Court said “the right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb”.
In its written submission to the High Court, the CPS argued that “the disorderly behaviour of burning the Quran was likely to cause at the very least distress to any right-minded person within the vicinity of the premises.”
During today’s hearing, the CPS argued burning a book in a residential area of central London, where the Turkish Consulate is located, “is in itself disorderly” and “all the more so when the book is a holy text”.
They said Coskun “effectively provoked” disorderly conduct in burning the Quran, as evidence by the fact he was viciously attacked.
Coskun required hospital treatment after being assaulted by Moussa Kadri with a knife and kicked while lying on the floor by the second assailant. Kadri has avoided jail. Since the attack, Coskun has been moved to a safe house following death threats.
The CPS rejected arguments that Coskun’s choice to protest outside a consulate was not a mitigating factor, despite embassies and consulates being typical locations for political protests. They said it was in fact an “aggravating” factor because the protest was “aimed at premises” where there were likely to be “believers of the Muslim faith”, and because his attacker emerged from one of the residential buildings opposite the consulate, and not the consulate itself.
The CPS originally charged Coskun with intent to cause “harassment, alarm or distress” against “the religious institution of Islam”. Following interventions by the NSS, the CPS said the wording of the charge was “incorrectly applied” and substituted a new charge.
Defence: Conviction may mean even burning Harry Potter could be a public order offence
Coskun’s defence said the court is being asked “for all time”, to determine that burning any book, even a copy of Harry Potter, on the streets of central London is “ipso facto disorderly” as a matter for law.
They said this was “the first time in history” the court is being asked to accept there is a concept of “intrinsic disorderliness”, which they called an “absurd submission” that the CPS “should never had pursued”.
The defence called the appeal “really hopeless” and “impermissible”, adding that trying to establish a “universal” test for disorderly conduct “completely eviscerates any idea of protest”.
They pointed out that protestors belonging to the Falun Gong spiritual movement have protested outside the Embassy of China for 22 years, and have been tolerated despite accusing China of genocide, torture and mass murder.
NSS: “Today’s proceedings laid bare the prosecutor’s attempt to reintroduce a blasphemy law by the back door.”
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said the organisation remains “optimistic that the CPS’s ill-conceived appeal will be rejected”.
He said: “Today’s proceedings laid bare the prosecutor’s attempt to reintroduce a blasphemy law by the back door.
“The Crown Court was careful not to let the criminal reaction of one person make a criminal of another. The CPS appeal appears determined to do exactly that by advancing a heckler’s veto.
“It is alarming that prosecutors would seek to stretch and contort the criminal law in ways that risk eroding fundamental freedoms rather than upholding them.”
“We now await the Court’s judgment.”
Blasphemy was abolished as a common law offence in England and Wales in 2008, and in Scotland in 2021. It is still an offence in Northern Ireland.