Laws shouldn’t be used to shield religious sensitivities
A man who tore out pages from a Quran and set them alight was convicted this week after pleading guilty to a single charge of racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment or alarm. Martin Frost’s protest was a low key, mundane and somewhat lamentable affair. The 47-year-old was filmed holding a flag of Israel before tearing out pages of the text and setting fire to it. He was apparently demonstrating solidarity with Salwan Momika, an Iraqi Christian refugee who was shot dead last week after burning Qurans in Sweden during public demonstrations in 2023. The ‘victim’ of Frost’s protest was Fahad Iqbal. In his victim impact statement, Iqbal said: “I was quite shocked, disgusted and offended. I’m a Muslim. I still can’t believe someone would do this. When he began to burn the Quran, my heart was about to break out. This is the most emotion I have ever felt.” Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how Frost had publicised the event online beforehand, and that it was streamed on social media. The “trigger” for his actions …