Latest news with #publicOrder
Malay Mail
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
DPM Zahid lauds outgoing IGP, welcomes Mohd Khalid as he takes helm of PDRM
KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has congratulated Datuk Seri Mohd Khalid Ismail on his appointment as the new Inspector-General of Police (IGP). Ahmad Zahid expressed confidence that Mohd Khalid will adopt a comprehensive and progressive approach to safeguarding national security and public order based on his outstanding leadership track record, including serving as the Bukit Aman Special Branch director and holding various strategic positions since 2018. 'Insya-Allah, under Datuk Seri Mohd Khalid's leadership, I believe that the Royal Malaysia Police will continue to be a trusted institution among the people, respected by both friend and foe,' he said in a Facebook post today. Ahmad Zahid also recorded his appreciation to Tan Sri Razarudin Husain for his dedication, service, and contributions during his tenure as the IGP, adding that Razarudin's efforts will always be remembered. Mohd Khalid, 60, who was appointed as the 15th IGP effective today, has held various important positions in the Royal Malaysia Police Special Branch, including Chief of the Pahang Special Branch from May 25, 2018, before being appointed as the Bukit Aman Special Branch principal assistant director on Sept 6, 2021. — Bernama
The Guardian
03-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Minister rejects Badenoch's claim that fine for man who set fire to Qur'an revives blasphemy laws
Update: Date: 2025-06-03T08:28:39.000Z Title: Kemi Badenoch Content: Good morning. Public spending is still the dominant issue at Westminster, with the spending review taking place a week tomorrow, and debate still raging about how the government will fund its defence and welfare plans (although the debate is now not so much whether there will be tax rises, rather how big they will be). But the Conservatives are now trying to revive a culture war issue, accusing Labour of in effect using blasphemy legislation to protect legislation. has been responding to the case of Hamit Coskun, who was found guilty and fined £240 yesterday for a religiously aggravated public order offence after he set fire to a Qur'an outside the Turkish consulate in London. Sammy Gescoyler has the story here. As Sammy reports, the judge, John McGarva, said that Coskun's actions were 'highly provocative' and said he was 'motivated at least in part by a hatred of Muslims'. But, in comments written up supportively by the Daily Mail in their splash, Badenoch said the case should go to appeal. She said: De facto blasphemy laws will set this country on the road to ruin. This case should go to appeal. Freedom of belief, and freedom not to believe, are inalienable rights in Britain. I'll defend those rights to my dying day. Not for the first time, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has pushed this even further, telling the Daily Telegraph: This decision is wrong. It revives a blasphemy law that parliament repealed. Free speech is under threat. I have no confidence in Two-Tier Keir to defend the rights of the public to criticise all religions. John Healey, the defence secretary, was on media round duty for the government this morning. Asked about the Tory claims by Sky News, Healey did not want to talk about the case itself, saying this was a matter for the courts. But he rejected the claim that blasphemy laws were coming back, telling Sky: We don't have blasphemy laws. We don't have any plans to reintroduce blasphemy laws. The National Secular Society is backing Coskun, and Humanists UK have also said they are concerned about yesterday's verdict. But, in his ruling, the judge said that burning a religious book and making criticism of Islam or the Koran are 'not necessarily disorderly'. McGarva went on: 'What made [Coskun's] conduct disorderly was the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language.' Here is the agenda for the day. 9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet. 10.15am: Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, gives evidence to the Treasury committee. 11.30am: Shabana Mahmood, justice secretary, takes questions in the Commons. Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing. 2.30pm: Yvette Cooper, home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee. If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can't read all the messages BTL, but if you put 'Andrew' in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @ The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can't promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
Telegraph
03-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Blasphemy laws against Islam are here, but nobody in Westminster will admit it
Last November, the social justice activist Titania McGrath tweeted that 'the assassination attempt against Donald Trump proves irrefutably that he is guilty of inciting violence'. Most people would have instantly understood this remark to be satirical, yet the judge in a much-publicised court case this week appears to have adopted Titania's logic with chilling precision. On Monday, Hamit Coskun was convicted of a public order offence for burning his own copy of the Quran in a peaceful protest outside the Turkish consulate. He was interrupted when an angry member of the public slashed at him with a knife and a passing delivery man kicked him while he lay on the floor. Channelling Titania in his ruling, District Judge John McGarva claimed that Coskun's conduct was proven to be disorderly 'by the fact that it led to serious public disorder involving him being assaulted by two different people'. While reading the judgment in this case, those of us who still care about free speech will hear multiple alarm bells clanging all at once. Leaving aside the sinister suggestion that a victim of violence is to blame for being attacked, the judge also stated that 'the defendant positioned himself outside the Turkish embassy, a place where he must have known there would be Muslims'. Given that Coskun had said that his protest was against 'the Islamist Government of Erdogan who has made Turkey a base for radical Islamists and is trying to establish a Sharia regime', it is difficult to imagine a more suitable location. Coskun's alleged crime is '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'. That his style of protest had the potential to cause offence is beyond doubt, with his cries of 'Quran is burning' and 'f--- Islam'. But if provocative language is now illega l, then one wonders how the major protests we've seen on the streets of London this year haven't all culminated in mass arrests. We need to be honest about what this conviction represents: blasphemy law by the back door. The creed of multiculturalism is a keystone of the intersectional ideology that has infected so many of our major institutions. The police and the judiciary are far from immune, which is presumably why, in the absence of authentic blasphemy codes, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had attempted to invent one of its own. The CPS had originally charged Coskun with intent to cause 'harassment, alarm or distress' against 'the religious institution of Islam'. It was eventually forced to change the wording to comply with the law. This is a standard symptom of ideological capture. The trans charity Stonewall, for instance, has been found to have misrepresented the Equality Act as it 'would prefer it to be, rather than the law as it is'. The College of Policing – the body responsible for the training of officers in England and Wales – has ignored demands from successive home secretaries to stop the recording of 'non-crime hate incidents', and has even shirked a ruling from the High Court that found the practice to be a clear infringement on free speech. The problems of two-tier justice and the ongoing state encroachment on free speech will not disappear until we tackle the two major sources of the problem. The first is the ideological bias that has become embedded in the police and the CPS. The second is the various 'hate speech' laws on the statue books that no government has yet had the courage to repeal. Why are people still being prosecuted for 'grossly offensive' comments, when such a notion is hopelessly subjective and impossible to define? Why are there proscriptions against the causing of 'alarm' or 'distress', when these are inevitable aspects of life? Why, for that matter, is 'hate' considered illegal at all? The state is seemingly under the delusion that it can legislate away our hardwired human emotions. Ultimately, no citizen should be arrested for a peaceful protest in which they burn their own book. That it was a copy of the Quran should be beside the point. In a free society, no belief-system should be exempt from criticism, ridicule and, yes, hatred. The spread of ideology through our public institutions, and the ongoing failure of our politicians to acknowledge that it is happening at all, has meant that the principle of equality under the law is now subordinated to group identity and the risk of causing offence. For those of us who still believe in freedom, this situation is no longer tolerable.
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Koran burner's conviction sparks warnings of 'backdoor blasphemy laws' as Robert Jenrick says the case is another example of two-tier justice
Kemi Badenoch warned of the impact of creeping blasphemy laws last night after the conviction of a protester who set fire to a copy of the Koran. Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted 'f*** Islam', 'Islam is religion of terrorism' and 'Koran is burning' while holding up a flaming copy of the holy text. He had been protesting against the Turkish government earlier this year. Yesterday he was ordered to pay £240 and a £96 statutory surcharge after being found guilty of a public order offence motivated by 'hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam'. Last night Mrs Badenoch said the case should go to appeal while a coalition of politicians and free speech campaigners accused the courts of reviving blasphemy laws via the backdoor and of suppressing free speech. Mrs Badenoch said: 'De facto blasphemy laws will set this country on the road to ruin. This case should go to appeal. 'Freedom of belief, and freedom not to believe, are inalienable rights in Britain. I'll defend those rights to my dying day.' Mrs Badenoch was echoed by Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick who said the case was yet another example of two-tier justice. He added: 'Two-Tier Keir used to defend free speech, but he's been reduced to a bystander as a blasphemy law is brought back by the back door. 'A man alleged to have stabbed Mr Coskun is on bail, free to roam the streets for another two years, while he is swiftly prosecuted for non-violent acts. 'Free speech is under threat. I have no confidence in Two-Tier Keir to defend the right of the public to criticise all religions.' Tory MP Nick Timothy said: 'We now have a blasphemy law in this country. Parliament never voted for it. I will introduce a Bill to put a stop to all this next week.' During his protest outside the Turkish Consulate in Knightsbridge on February 13 Mr Coskun – who was born in Turkey but is half Armenian and half Turkish – was attacked by a man who was allegedly holding a knife and threatening to kill him. Although he has admitted to assaulting Mr Coskun, the man has denied using a knife. He will go on trial in 2027. Since his controversial protest, Mr Coskun has reportedly received death threats and has been moved to a safe house after it was alleged two men broke into his home and attacked him. He is a committed atheist who has claimed asylum in Britain after fleeing Turkey two and half years ago. The National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, which paid his legal fees, have announced they plan to appeal against the judgment and 'keep appealing' until it is overturned. When asked about the case last night the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We have no blasphemy laws in England, and there are no plans to introduce any. Obviously, individual cases are a matter for the courts.' Following the verdict, Mr Coskun told reporters: 'Christian blasphemy laws were repealed in this country more than 15 years ago. 'Would I have been prosecuted if I'd set fire to a copy of the Bible outside Westminster Abbey? I doubt it.' In court last week, his lawyer Katy Thorne KC argued that the charges effectively criminalised the public burning of religious texts. She said Mr Coskun's actions were not motivated by hostility towards Muslims, just the religion of Islam itself. But district judge John McGarva told Mr Coskun that his actions were 'motivated, at least in part, by hatred of followers of the religion'. Stephen Evans of the National Secular Society said: 'The outcome of this case is a significant blow to freedom of expression and signals a concerning capitulation to Islamic blasphemy codes.'
The Sun
02-06-2025
- General
- The Sun
Conviction of man who burned a Koran condemned as example of ‘de facto blasphemy laws'
THE conviction of a man who burned a Koran has been condemned as an example of 'de facto blasphemy laws'. Hamit Coskun, 50, yelled 'f*** Islam ' as he set fire to a copy of the religious text outside the Turkish consulate in South West London in February. 2 He was yesterday found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence and fined £240. The judge at Westminster magistrates' court called his actions 'highly provocative'. But Kemi Badenoch yesterday urged Mr Coskun to appeal against the conviction, saying that 'freedom of belief, and freedom not to believe, are inalienable rights in Britain'. The Tory leader said: 'De facto blasphemy laws will set this country on the road to ruin.' Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick added: ' Free speech is under threat. "I have no confidence in Two-Tier Keir to defend the right of the public to criticise all religions.' The Free Speech Union vowed to fight the conviction all the way to the European Court of Human Rights if needed. Religious texts ripped apart as Islamic school vandalised in Newcastle for the 'second time in three months' 2
