Court Says Burning Quran Counts as Disorderly Conduct
Hamit Coskun was convicted in June of a religiously aggravated public order offence after holding a flaming Quran outside the Turkish consulate on 13 February 2025. The 51-year-old successfully appealed, and his conviction was overturned in October by Mr Justice Bennathan at Southwark Crown Court.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has since filed an appeal against the overturning. During a hearing, CPS barrister David Perry KC argued that the judge was wrong to conclude that Coskun’s actions were not “disorderly.”
"Burning a book in a residential or commercial part of central London, between Knightsbridge and Hyde Park, is in itself disorderly and even more so when the book is a holy text, whatever the religion," Perry told the court.
In written submissions, he added that Coskun’s actions “did not involve an exercise of legitimate freedom of expression” and instead “crossed the border into criminal conduct.”
The CPS has requested that the High Court send the case back to the crown court for reconsideration.
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