In a landmark ruling that has been hailed as a "huge victory" for free speech, a British court overturned the conviction of a man who had been found guilty for burning a Koran outside the Turkish consulate.
The court's decision, delivered by Mr Justice Bennathan at the Crown Court, underscored the importance of freedom of expression, stating that criminal law does not exist to "avoid people being upset, even grievously upset," and that the right to freedom of expression includes the right to "views that offend, shock or disturb."
According to Breitbart, the case revolved around Hamit Coskun, who had been convicted under the Public Order Act in July for staging a protest in London where he set fire to a Qur'an. The act of burning the Qur'an, a symbol of protest seen across Europe, was not as remarkable as the immediate violence that Coskun faced.
As soon as he lit the book, he was attacked by two men who were incensed by the sight of the burning book. One of the men, armed with a knife, shouted, "Im going to kill you Burning the Koran? Its my religion, you dont burn the Koran," and was later convicted but spared jail time for slashing at Coskun. A second man, a passing food delivery rider, also assaulted Coskun.
The Free Speech Union had warned that Coskun's conviction effectively created a de facto blasphemy law in Britain, a legal concept that had been abolished by Parliament. The Union supported Coskun's appeal, arguing that he was making a legal protest against political Islam under President Erdogan in Turkey, and that the court had wrongly "conflated his political protest against Islam with hatred of Muslims, effectively reviving blasphemy law by the back door".
In response to the ruling, the Free Speech Union stated: Had the verdict been allowed to stand, it would have sent a message to religious fundamentalists up and down the country that all they need to do to enforce their blasphemy codes is to violently attack the blasphemer, thereby making him or her guilty of having caused public disorder.
Lord Young of Acton, a freedom of speech advocate and founder of the Free Speech Union, called the ruling a "huge victory". He said, the Crown Court has sent the opposite message that anti-religious protests, however offensive, must be tolerated.
Robert Jenrick, the de facto Conservative leader, had accompanied Coskun to court and promoted his cause. While he found the act of burning the Quran distasteful, he nevertheless supported the right to do it. Jenrick said, Hamit Coskun has been cleared. Good. I didnt like what Mr Coskun did; burning a religious text was not pleasant. But it was also never criminal. So, this is an important victory for free speech."
He further added, Parliament voted to abolish blasphemy laws 20 years ago. It was disgraceful that the authorities attempted to re-create them by the back door.
The court's ruling, delivered by Mr Justice Bennathan, emphasized the importance of freedom of expression in a liberal democracy. It stated that while the criminal law does intervene to protect people, there has to be a balance. The ruling cited case law which had previously ruled that making speech that causes disorder illegal hands a great deal of power to counter-protesters as it hands them an absolute legal hecklers veto.
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