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LONDON: A Turkish-born man who burned a Qur'an in London won an appeal on Friday against his conviction, in a ruling hailed by free-speech campaigners.
Hamit Coskun, 51, was found guilty in June of a religiously aggravated public order offense and was issued with a fine.
He had set the religious book alight outside the Turkish consulate in London in February while shouting slogans against Islam.
His case was taken up by the National Secular Society (NSS) and the Free Speech Union (FSU), who argued that Coskun was essentially being prosecuted for blasphemy.
Ruling in Coskun’s favor, judge Joel Bennathan told Southwark Crown Court on Friday that: “There is no offense of blasphemy in our law.”
“Burning a Qur'an may be an act that many Muslims find desperately upsetting and offensive,” according to the judge.
He said that the criminal law does not seek 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 added.
Blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales in 2008.
In a statement, Coskun, who is half-Kurdish and half-Armenian, said he came to England “having been persecuted in Turkiye, to be able to speak freely about the dangers of radical Islam.”
“I am reassured that, despite many troubling developments, I will now be free to educate the British public about my beliefs,” he added.
The FSU said the successful appeal sent a message that “anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated.”
Coskun has also received the support of the opposition Conservative party’s justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick.

New Delhi: India will reopen its embassy in Kabul, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said on Friday, in a meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the first senior official from Afghanistan visiting New Delhi since the Taliban took power in 2021.

India closed its embassy when the Taliban took control four years ago, when Afghanistan’s Western-backed regime collapsed and US-led troops withdrew after two decades of military occupation.

Like all other countries, except for Russia, India also does not officially recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, but in 2022, it opened what it called a “technical mission” to facilitate trade and humanitarian aid.

The mission will now be upgraded, Jaishankar told Muttaqi during their live-streamed meeting in New Delhi.

“Your visit marks an important step in advancing our ties and affirming the enduring friendship between India and Afghanistan,” he said.

“Closer cooperation between us contributes to your national development, as well as regional stability and resilience. To enhance that, I am pleased to announce today the upgrading of India’s technical mission in Kabul to the status of Embassy of India.”

Muttaqi arrived in India on Thursday. Like most Taliban leaders, he has been sanctioned by the UN, but the Security Council said last month that he was granted “an exemption to the travel ban” to visit New Delhi from Oct. 9 to 16.

“I’m happy today that I am here in Delhi and this visit will increase and strengthen the understanding between both countries and open a new chapter of these relations,” he said in the meeting with Jaishankar.

“During the American occupation, there were many ups and downs that happened. However, throughout this time, we never gave a statement against India, rather we always sought good relations with India. We will not allow any group to threaten anyone else or to use the territory of Afghanistan against others.”

In a statement after the meeting, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that New Delhi agreed to “deepen its engagement” in developmental, healthcare and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, as well as to offer scholarships to Afghan students to pursue studies at Indian universities.

The ministry also announced plans to increase economic engagement.

“The Afghan side invited Indian companies to invest in the mining sector which would help strengthen the bilateral trade and commercial relations,” it said.

“Both sides welcomed the commencement of the India-Afghanistan Air Freight Corridor, which will further enhance direct trade and commerce between the two countries.” 

The corridor is a trade initiative launched in 2017 under Afghanistan’s previous government to promote direct air cargo connectivity between the two countries, bypassing land routes that were often restricted due to political tensions, especially with Pakistan which lies between the two countries.

“I think India is certainly signaling that it is willing to consider moving towards the same level of representation as in the past, and changing the technical mission into a full embassy underscores that,” said Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“The important thing here is that both Taliban are willing to engage with India and make it very clear that they are interested in India having a larger economic role in Afghanistan.

“And India is also indicating that it does not want to be left out because other countries, in particular China, seem to be making a go at it ... It seems that this is certainly the beginning of a new phase of India’s engagement in Afghanistan.”