Man who burned Koran was attacked and spat at, court told
Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted 'f*** Islam', 'Islam is religion of terrorism' and 'Koran is burning' as he held the flaming Islamic text aloft outside the Turkish consulate in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, London, on February 13, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told.
Coskun denies a religiously aggravated public order offence of using disorderly behaviour 'within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress', motivated by 'hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam', contrary to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Public Order Act 1986.
He also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of using disorderly behaviour 'within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress', contrary to section five of the Public Order Act 1986.
Further details of a subsequent attack on Coskun can now be reported after a judge dismissed a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) attempt to impose a reporting restriction.
Turkey-born Coskun, who is half Kurdish and half Armenian, travelled from his home in the Midlands and set fire to the Koran at around 2pm, the court heard.
In footage captured on a mobile phone by a passerby that was shown to the court, a man approached and asked Coskun why he was burning a copy of the Koran.
Coskun can be heard making a reference to 'terrorist' and the man called the defendant 'a f****** idiot'.
The man approached him allegedly holding a knife or bladed article and appeared to slash out at him, the court heard.
The footage appeared to show Coskun back away and use the burning Koran to deflect the attacker, who is alleged to have slashed out at him again.
The man chased Coskun, and the defendant stumbled forward and fell to the ground, dropping the Koran, the footage showed.
Coskun was spat at and kicked by the man, the court heard.
The man said: 'Burning the Koran? It's my religion! You don't burn the Koran.'
Coskun sustained an injured finger and was taken to hospital, though it is not clear whether this was caused by the man's kicks, the court heard.
The unnamed man is subject to legal proceedings.
Katy Thorne KC, defending, said in her closing argument on Thursday: 'We would suggest that there is across history, and indeed now, many people who are hostile to other religions.'
Ms Thorne brought up the example of some feminists being hostile to Catholicism, saying it is a 'sacrosanct right that they are entitled to have and express'.
She added: 'However offensive Muslims may find the behaviour and beliefs of the defendant, he's entitled to have them, he's entitled to express them.'
Ms Thorne said that Coskun felt that he was not acting in a violent way or had been disorderly in front of anyone.
She added: 'He was calm, he was calmly with a raised voice saying 'Islam is the religion of terrorism' and then what happened was he was abused and violently attacked.'
Prosecutor Philip McGhee said Coskun's argument that he was using the right to protest was a 'shield' for a 'hostility' towards Islam.
Coskun had posted on social media that he was protesting against the 'Islamist government' of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who the defendant allegedly said 'has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a sharia regime', the prosecutor said.
The defendant, who is an atheist, believes that he protested peacefully and burning the Koran amounted to freedom of expression, the court heard.
Ahead of his trial, in a quote released through the Free Speech Union, he said: 'Encountering such treatment in a country like England, which I truly believed to be a place where freedom prevailed, was a real shock to me.'
His legal fees are being paid for by the Free Speech Union and the National Secular Society (NSS).
District Judge John McGarva will pass verdict at the same court on Monday.
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