LONDON: A Turkish-born man who burned a Qur'an in London won an appeal on Friday against his conviction, in a ruling hailed by free-speech campaigners.
Hamit Coskun, 51, was found guilty in June of a religiously aggravated public order offense and was issued with a fine.
He had set the religious book alight outside the Turkish consulate in London in February while shouting slogans against Islam.
His case was taken up by the National Secular Society (NSS) and the Free Speech Union (FSU), who argued that Coskun was essentially being prosecuted for blasphemy.
Ruling in Coskun’s favor, judge Joel Bennathan told Southwark Crown Court on Friday that: “There is no offense of blasphemy in our law.”
