by Will Bolton, Telegraph
Overturning of Hamit Coskun’s conviction for religiously aggravated offence upheld in ‘humiliating defeat’ for CPS
A man who burned a Koran in a demonstration outside the Turkish consulate has won a landmark blasphemy case at the High Court.
Hamit Coskun, 51, previously succeeded in overturning a conviction for holding up a flaming copy of the holy book and shouting “f—- Islam”, in what he insisted was a political protest.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) appealed against the decision, claiming his actions were criminal and amounted to disorderly conduct.
In a judgment handed down on Friday, Lord Justice Warby and Ms Justice Obi upheld the decision to overturn the conviction.
The Free Speech Union, which supported Mr Coskun throughout proceedings, has now called for Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, to resign following the “humiliating defeat”.
Free speech campaigners had argued that if Mr Coskun lost his case, Britain would have introduced a blasphemy law by the back door.
At a hearing earlier this month, Tim Owen KC, representing Mr Coskun, said the appeal by the CPS was attempting to make burning any book on the streets of London a disorderly act as a matter of law.
“This is a hopeless appeal,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what book it is, it could be Harry Potter or the Koran, but setting fire to it in central London completes the element of disorder.”