{"id":2444266,"date":"2025-06-07T12:58:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T16:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/islamic-blasphemy-code-upheld-in-uk-man-convicted-of-burning-quran\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T13:03:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T17:03:24","slug":"islamic-blasphemy-code-upheld-in-uk-man-convicted-of-burning-quran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/islamic-blasphemy-code-upheld-in-uk-man-convicted-of-burning-quran\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic \u2018Blasphemy Code\u2019 Upheld in UK, Man Convicted of Burning Quran"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fislamic-blasphemy-code-upheld-in-uk-man-convicted-of-burning-quran%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2444266&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses recent legal actions taken in the United Kingdom against Hamit Coskun, who burned a Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London. Critics argue that this prosecution reflects a troubling conversion of public order laws into de facto blasphemy laws, particularly in relation to Islam. Coskun was fined for disorderly conduct, stemming from his provocative declaration that &#8220;Islam is a religion of terrorism&#8221; while burning the Quran. The court&#8217;s ruling has raised alarms among <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dark-money-free-speech-addressed-by-h-r-1\/\" title=\"Dark money, ... addressed by H.R.1?\">free speech advocates<\/a>, who argue that the legal framing merges the religious institution of Islam with protection of its followers, effectively granting special status to the religion under the law. The article suggests that this case marks a potential shift in how blasphemy laws are enforced in the UK, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lefts-latest-sting-against-supreme-court-justice-alito-backfires-proves-how-right-he-is\/\" title=\"Left&#039;s Recent Attempt to Undermine Justice Alito Fails, Highlights His Accuracy\">reflecting broader tensions<\/a> over freedom of speech and religious sensitivity.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_2)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>For the second time this year, the United Kingdom&rsquo;s broad and problematic public order laws have been turned into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/where-vance-and-walz-stand-on-top-issues-ahead-of-debate-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Where Vance and Walz stand on top issues ahead of debate - Washington Examiner\">de facto &#038;ldquo<\/a>;blasphemy&rdquo; acts, critics say.<\/p>\n<p>And for the second time this year &mdash; you won&rsquo;t be surprised to note &mdash; the British courts decided to use the power of the Crown to punish a man who happened to &ldquo;blaspheme&rdquo; one particular religion.<\/p>\n<p>Can you guess which? C&rsquo;mon, just guess. I&rsquo;ll give you a hint: not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ap-unprecedented-decision-made-king-charles-coronation-christianity-will-no-longer-sole-focus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christianity<\/a>. Or Judaism. Or Hinduism. Or Buddhism. Or the Bah&rsquo;ai faith. Or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-29753530\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jedi-ism<\/a>, which is a real thing in the U.K.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, yet again, insult to Islam is the reason why a man who burned the Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in February is facing a fine because he &ldquo;used disorderly behavior within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment,&rdquo; a court decided.<\/p>\n<p>Hamit Coskun, a 50-year-old Turkish-born-born documentarian of Kurdish and Armenian descent will be fined &pound;240 with a surcharge of &pound;96, which is $454 in free speech cash (i.e., U.S. dollars).<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Coskun was, before this, most famous for being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-18045380\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">detained<\/a> by the now-deposed government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria while making a film in 2012 and held for 70 days. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysabah.com\/arts-culture\/2015\/04\/04\/70-days-captivity-in-syria-in-pursuit-of-documentary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">book<\/a> about the ordeal, which translates to &ldquo;70 Days&rsquo; Captivity in Syria,&rdquo; was released in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Given his history &mdash; the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/media-covers-kurdish-deaths-trump-says-condolence-letters-military-families-harder-anything-else\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kurdish<\/a> and Armenian people do not have a particularly good relationship with the Islamic authorities in numerous states, particularly Turkey, and his detention and torture by Assad&rsquo;s goons &mdash; he is perhaps given a bit of leeway in terms of anger toward certain precepts of the religion in general and Turkey&rsquo;s application of them in particular.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, his behavior outside the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ap-greek-ships-open-fire-vessel-mediterranean-turkish-gunboats-respond\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Turkish<\/a> Consulate in London on Feb. 13 was not exactly, shall we say, exemplary: &ldquo;he set fire to a copy of the Qu&rsquo;ran and held it aloft while he shouted, &lsquo;F*** Islam&rsquo; and &lsquo;Islam is religion of terrorism&rsquo; and &lsquo;Qu&rsquo;ran is burning&rsquo;, and at the time of doing so, and in doing so, he was motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam, based on their membership of that group,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rex-v-Hamit-Coskun.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">court documents<\/a> read.<\/p>\n<p>In a column for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/england-now-has-a-blasphemy-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.K. Spectator<\/a> on the day the verdict was handed down, June 2, columnist David Shipley declared &ldquo;England now has a blasphemy law.&rdquo; From his piece:<\/p>\n<p><em>This law has been created by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and District Judge John McGarva. Between them they have prosecuted and found a man guilty of a &lsquo;religiously aggravated public order offence&rsquo; because he burned a Quran outside the Turkish consulate. The CPS mounted a prosecution conflating the religious institution of Islam, with Muslims as people, and a British judge has accepted this. Islamic blasphemy codes are now being enforced by arms of the British state, via what the National Secular Society describes as &lsquo;a troubling repurposing of public order laws as a proxy for blasphemy laws&rsquo;. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Hamit Coskun burned a Quran outside the Turkish consulate in February, before being attacked by a man named Moussa Kadri who has since pleaded guilty to the assault. Mr Coskun was initially charged under the Crime and Disorder Act with &lsquo;intent to cause against the religious institution of Islam harassment, alarm or distress&rsquo;. This means that the Crown Prosecution Service were treating Islam itself as a person, and a victim of Hamit&rsquo;s Quran burning. Under English law this is nonsensical, as only people can be harmed in this fashion, so this charge, if it had been successful, would have established a special, protected status for Islam. Weeks ago I made a Freedom of Information request of the CPS, asking in how many instances of &lsquo;the religious institution of Islam&rsquo; appeared in recent indictments. Just this morning they responded, saying that it would take too long for them to review all the charges they had made, and that they would not comply with the FOI request.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This may be an easy interpretation, especially after a Manchester man who said his daughter was killed during the conflict with Israel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/british-offer-citizen-radical-islamists-execution-burned-quran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pulled a similar stunt<\/a> outside a memorial for the victims of the 2017 Manchester terrorist attack; that man was both considerably less famous and considerably less mentally stable than Coskun, but the particulars &mdash; down to the graphic language and the attack on him by an onlooker &mdash; were eerily similar.<\/p>\n<p>In that case, the judge said that he was sorry the man lost his daughter, but &ldquo;the Quran is a sacred book to Muslims and treating it as you did is going to cause extreme distress.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a tolerant country, but we just do not tolerate this behavior,&rdquo; she added, a rhetorical flourish that would have pleased both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/abhorrent-welcome-californias-orwellian-paradise-ranking-citizens-dna-heritage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Orwell<\/a> <em>and<\/em> Kafka if the implications weren&rsquo;t so dire.<\/p>\n<p>That case was called de facto &ldquo;blasphemy&rdquo; laws as well. However, in both cases, it&rsquo;s kind of worth noting that it&rsquo;s a bit more complex &mdash; and worse &mdash; than that.<\/p>\n<p>At least in this case, as <a href=\"https:\/\/humanists.uk\/2025\/06\/02\/public-disorder-conviction-for-man-who-burned-a-quran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Humanists UK<\/a> noted, the judge said that &ldquo;I do not find that this prosecution is an attempt to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/speaker-pelosis-new-house-rules-package-silences-the-voice-of-republican-minority\/\" title=\"Speaker Pelosi\u2019s new House rules package silences the voice of Republican minority\">bring back<\/a> and expand blasphemy law.&rdquo; Which is good, considering that was abolished in 2008 and last <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/onthisday\/hi\/dates\/stories\/july\/11\/newsid_2499000\/2499721.stm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prosecuted<\/a> in 1977, when the charge was levied at a gay newspaper. The last person to spend time in prison for the act was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2001\/oct\/24\/race.religion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John William Gott<\/a>, convicted in 1921 and a serial offender whose pamphleteering also evinced a man not&nbsp;<em>in compos mentis<\/em>, to put it mildly.<\/p>\n<p>However, at the same time the U.K. was taking blasphemy laws off the books, they were creating a set of laws that could, under certain circumstances, be used as a roundabout way to effectuate criminal prosecution under the same principles, only with supposedly secular auspices behind them.<\/p>\n<p>In 1986, the Public Order Act was enacted by Margaret Thatcher&rsquo;s government. After a series of riots and protests that had turned violent, the act defined, in a rather broad manner, what could be defined as &ldquo;public disorder.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 1998, Tony Blair&rsquo;s New Labour government went a step further, enacting the Crime and Disorder Act. At the time, the legislation became internationally famous for its Anti-Social Behavior Orders, or ASBOs for short. These orders basically turned perfectly legal things into crimes by allowing the court to order people to refrain from doing certain behaviors that, while legal, were found to be disruptive.<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-10790872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC<\/a> chronicled how ridiculous some of these orders were:<\/p>\n<p><em>A country and western music fan was given an ASBO in January for tormenting his neighbors with Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash throughout the day.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Partially deaf Michael O&rsquo;Rourke, 51, from Peterhead, was warned by the court that he risked becoming &ldquo;the oldest raver in town&rdquo; unless he started to turn his music down.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Meanwhile, a woman who made her neighbors&rsquo; lives hell by having noisy sex breached her ASBO four times.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s right: &ldquo;Folsom Prison Blues,&rdquo; &ldquo;Jolene,&rdquo; rave music, and loud, um, human extracurricular activity became criminal offenses. And herein lies the problem with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/watch-londons-iconic-big-ben-shows-controversial-anti-semitic-message\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United Kingdom<\/a>: While the country has an <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >extensive common-law tradition dating back<\/a> to the 13th century, it has no codified guarantee of free speech, much less an explicit constitution.<\/p>\n<p>And while free speech enjoys some protections, those protections were greatly qualified by the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act&rsquo;s ban on &ldquo;racially aggravated offenses,&rdquo; which was extended to &ldquo;religiously aggravated offenses&rdquo; in 2001.<\/p>\n<p>While the ASBO has been done away with, this part of the Crime and Disorder Act has been used in a way that could be, if you wanted to be reductionist about it, called a &ldquo;blasphemy ASBO&rdquo; of sorts.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, if you engage in behavior which the government deems likely to cause disorder, in front of the magistrate you go. And &mdash; this should really come as no surprise &mdash; guess which religious group in the U.K. is most likely to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/media-portrayed-boy-quiet-christian-choir-boy-now-accused-islamist-terror-plotting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">react in a disorderly way<\/a> if their holy book is desecrated and cry bigotry?<\/p>\n<p>As Humanists UK noted in its media release, this was slippery slope city:<\/p>\n<p><em>  We unequivocally condemn acts of religious hatred and harassment. Many of the defendant&rsquo;s views, revealed in the course of the trial, are bigoted, and all decent people would be repelled by them. Nevertheless, given that the defendant did not express anything publicly that was prejudicial against Muslims, the judgment does raise concerns. While the facts of the case are complex, we believe the judgment, and specifically the religiously aggravated charge, means that the bar to successful prosecutions in cases like this is drawn too low.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This is not a new problem &mdash; and it&rsquo;s a problem that should have been anticipated when the ridiculous ASBO was ditched in 2014. Those who thought the singular problem with the Crime and Disorder Act was that part of the legislation failed to see that making generally undesirable but legitimate forms of protest actionable under the Public Order Act was the slipperiest of slopes.<\/p>\n<p>Once you&rsquo;ve stopped threatening prosecution for Johnny Cash, the issues it raises become a whole lot less chucklesome &mdash; and it doesn&rsquo;t just stop with the religion of Islam as a protected class. Plenty of people, including David Shipley, got some mileage out of calling it a &ldquo;blasphemy law.&rdquo; The horrible truth is that it&rsquo;s not, and that it&rsquo;s potentially a whole lot worse than that.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the second time this year, critics argue that the United Kingdom&#8217;s vague and contentious public order laws have effectively become &#8220;blasphemy&#8221; laws. Once again, British courts have chosen to wield Crown authority to penalize an individual for allegedly &#8220;blaspheming&#8221; a specific religion. Can you guess which one? Here&#8217;s a hint: it&#8217;s not Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, or even Jedi-ism-yes, that&#8217;s real in the U.K. The answer is Islam; a man who burned a Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in February is now facing fines for &#8220;disorderly behavior likely to cause harassment,&#8221; as determined by the court. Hamit Coskun, a 50-year-old documentarian of Kurdish and Armenian descent born in Turkey, will be fined \u00a3240 plus an additional \u00a396 surcharge-totaling $454 in U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Before this incident, Coskun was known for being detained by Bashar al-Assad&#8217;s regime in Syria while filming back in 2012 and held for 70 days. His book recounting that experience was published in 2015. Given his background-considering the strained relations between Kurdish and Armenian communities with Islamic authorities across various nations-it&#8217;s understandable he might express anger towards certain aspects of Islam and its application by Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>However, his actions outside the Turkish Consulate on February 13 were far from commendable: he set fire to a Quran while shouting derogatory phrases about Islam and claimed it was motivated by hostility towards Muslims as followers of that faith. Following his conviction on June 2 for committing a &#8220;religiously aggravated public order offense,&#8221; columnist David Shipley remarked that &#8220;England now has a blasphemy law.&#8221; He noted how this prosecution conflated Islam as an institution with Muslims as individuals-a troubling development where blasphemy codes are enforced through public order laws.<\/p>\n<p>Coskun&#8217;s act led to him being charged under legislation aimed at preventing harassment related to religious institutions; however, treating Islam itself as if it could be victimized raises significant legal concerns since only individuals can suffer harm under English law.<\/p>\n<p>Weeks prior to this ruling, I submitted an inquiry regarding how often references to &#8220;the religious institution of Islam&#8221; appeared in recent charges made by prosecutors but received no response due to their claim it would take too long to review all cases.<\/p>\n<p>This situation mirrors another case involving someone who expressed grief over losing their daughter during conflict with Israel but faced similar backlash after desecrating memorials-a judge acknowledged both personal loss yet condemned disrespect toward sacred texts like the Quran.<\/p>\n<p>While some may label these incidents de facto blasphemy laws due to their implications on free speech rights within England-a country lacking explicit constitutional protections-the reality is more complex than simply reinstating outdated statutes abolished years ago. Instead of outright bans on blasphemy itself post-2008 reforms aimed at curbing hate speech led lawmakers down paths allowing indirect prosecutions based upon perceived disorderly conduct linked closely with religious sentiments-particularly concerning reactions from Muslim communities when faced with provocations against their beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Humanists UK expressed concern over these developments stating they condemn acts rooted in religious hatred yet worry about lowering thresholds necessary for successful prosecutions tied directly into such sensitive matters without clear definitions separating legitimate protest from potential criminality stemming solely from offensive expressions or behaviors deemed disruptive according governmental standards-which could extend beyond just one faith group if left unchecked moving forward into future legal interpretations surrounding freedom of expression rights overall within British society today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2444267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Picture-2025-06-07T112038.529.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[11358,26161,20286,32274,56736],"class_list":["post-2444266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-blasphemy","tag-islam","tag-quran","tag-religious-freedom","tag-uk-law"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Picture-2025-06-07T112038.529.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2444270,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444266\/revisions\/2444270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2444267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}