The man who burned a Quran outside the Turkish embassy in London is set to be accepted as a refugee by the United States if he loses his appeal in the UK.
According to a report by GB News, State Department officials in the Trump administration are preparing to assist Hamit Coskun in leaving the UK should he lose his appeal to the High Court. A senior US official said Coskun’s case was “one of several cases the administration has made note of.”
Coskun traveled from the Midlands to the Turkish Embassy in Knightsbridge, where he set fire to a Quran. He held the burning book above his head and shouted phrases including “Islam is a religion of terrorism” and “F*** Islam.” A passerby, identified as Moussa Kadri, assaulted him with a blade and kicked him to the ground. Kadri later received a suspended 20-week prison sentence.
Prosecutors initially charged Coskun with harassing the “religious institution of Islam.” The National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union intervened, arguing the charge amounted to an effective blasphemy prosecution, an offense abolished in the UK. The charges were later amended, and Coskun was convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offense and ordered to pay a fine.
However, the Southwark Crown Court overturned the conviction in October. The court ruled that although burning the Quran may be “desperately upsetting and offensive” to Muslims, freedom of expression "must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.”
The Crown Prosecution Service is currently seeking to reverse the decision that removed Coskun’s conviction for the religiously aggravated public order offense.
Coskun, an Armenian Kurd who sought asylum in the UK from Turkey, has said he may leave Britain if the court battle is unsuccessful. He told The Telegraph, “For me, as the victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may be forced to flee the UK and move to the USA, where President Trump has stood for free speech and against Islamic extremism.”
He added that if he prevails in court, he would continue burning Qurans in the UK as a form of political protest. He argued that Britain had "effectively fallen to Islamism and the speech codes that it wishes to impose on the non-Muslim world.”
