Brief: U.S. Administration Evaluates Support for Protester Facing Charges in U.K.
The U.S. administration is considering offering assistance to Hamit Coskun, a man fined for burning a Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London. This comes as U.K. prosecutors work to overturn a court decision that dropped his charges.
Coskun, aged 51 and of Armenian-Kurdish background, initially came to the U.K. seeking asylum from Turkey, where he claims Islamic extremists drastically impacted his life. He was imprisoned in Turkey for opposing Islamist governance.
In February 2025, Coskun’s protest involved setting fire to a Quran while making inflammatory statements about Islam. This act drew significant backlash, resulting in an altercation where he was attacked by a passerby, Moussa Kadri, who was later sentenced for his actions.
Initially charged for harassing Islam as a religious institution, Coskun’s case attracted attention from groups advocating for free speech, who argued that the legal actions mirrored outdated blasphemy laws. In June 2025, Coskun was convicted of a public order offense, but this was overturned in October when a judge ruled in favor of free expression.
As the Crown Prosecution Service seeks to challenge this ruling, Coskun indicated he might need to relocate to the U.S. if the appeal is not successful. He expressed concern over what he perceives as a decline in free speech in the U.K., stating that it might suggest an increasing influence of Islamism in Britain.
Former President Trump and officials from the U.S. have previously expressed worries about restrictions on free speech in the U.K. and Europe, indicating a broader policy interest in ensuring expression remains protected.
