From Guido Fawkes https://order-order.com/2025/10/10/man-who-burned-quran-wins-appeal-against-conviction
"Hamit Coskun, who was convicted under the Public Order Act for burning a copy of the Quran, has won his appeal against the conviction at Southwark Crown Court. Robert Jenrick joined Coskun at the Crown Court this morning to show his support, while the Free Speech Union posted on X: “Had the verdict been allowed to stand, it would have sent a message to religious fundamentalists up and down the country that all they need to do to enforce their blasphemy codes is to violently attack the blasphemer, thereby making him or her guilty of having caused public disorder.”"
This is a massive win for freedom of expression in the UK. However it should have been the sort of case which not only should never have been brought in the first place but is one that the Crown should never have tried to defend either at the Magistrate’s Court nor at the Crown Court. For additional information the X user ‘The Stark Naked Brief’ (@StarkNakedBrief ) has said: The judge that overturned Hamit Coskun's criminal conviction for burning a copy of the Koran. We finally found a good one. His name is Justice Joel Bennathan. Bennathan said at Coskun's hearing: "There is no offence of blasphemy in our law. Burning a Koran may be an act that many Muslims find desperately upsetting and offensive. The criminal law, however, is not a mechanism that seeks to avoid people being upset, even grievously upset. The right to freedom of expression, if it is a right worth having, must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb." He then went on to cite Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, pertaining to freedom of expression. It's long past time we scrapped and reviewed our incredibly contradictory speech laws. Meanwhile, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Met Police have deservedly ended up with yet more egg on their face. Stark Naked Brief also put up a link to the full judgement in Mr Coskun’s case which can be found via this link https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Rex-v-Hamit-Coskun.pdf
I’ve often complained that Article Ten of the ECHR has been to all intents and purposes practically useless in the face of Britain’s ‘hate speech’ laws but I’m very pleased to see not only Article Ten being used as it should be used but also a Judge supporting free expression citing Article Ten.