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If Coskun loses his so-called "blasphemy case" this week, the Crown Prosecution Service is pushing to reinstate his overturned conviction, the State Department is ready to bring him stateside as a refugee. This is one of several cases the administration has flagged, and it could turn the transatlantic free speech debate into a full-on shouting match.
Coskun, who fled Turkey after claiming Islamic terrorists wrecked his life and got asylum in the UK, made his point loud and clear by setting the book ablaze while yelling "Islam is religion of terrorism" and "f*ck Islam."
A passerby promptly tried to stab him, then kicked him when he hit the deck. That attacker, Moussa Kadri, drew a mere 20-week sentence. Coskun however was originally hit with a religiously aggravated public order offense, which critics slammed as blasphemy-by-another-name, an offense the UK supposedly ditched 18 years ago. The National Secular Society and Free Speech Union jumped in, the conviction got flipped on appeal, but the CPS is back for round two in court Tuesday.
Prosecutors insist it was never about the burning itself, just "disorderly behavior in public." Sure, and one day chickens will blacken the skies.
Coskun told the Telegraph that if he loses, he may have no choice but to bolt.
"For me, as the victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may be forced to flee the UK and move to the USA, where President Trump has stood for free speech and against Islamic extremism," Coskun said. "If I have to do so, then, to me, the UK will have effectively fallen to Islamism and the speech codes that it wishes to impose on the non-Muslim world."
Look, the UK keeps sliding toward treating blunt criticism of certain ideologies like a felony, while the Trump team is signaling loud and clear: burn a book, shout your piece, get attacked for it, and then get prosecuted for offending the wrong feelings? Not on our watch. If the High Court sides with the prosecutors, don't be shocked if Coskun ends up trading rainy London for somewhere he can speak his mind without fearing a knock from the thought police. America still has room for guys who refuse to shut up.
Prosecutors insist it was never about the burning itself, just "disorderly behavior in public." Sure, and one day chickens will blacken the skies.
Coskun told the Telegraph that if he loses, he may have no choice but to bolt.
"For me, as the victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may be forced to flee the UK and move to the USA, where President Trump has stood for free speech and against Islamic extremism," Coskun said. "If I have to do so, then, to me, the UK will have effectively fallen to Islamism and the speech codes that it wishes to impose on the non-Muslim world."
Look, the UK keeps sliding toward treating blunt criticism of certain ideologies like a felony, while the Trump team is signaling loud and clear: burn a book, shout your piece, get attacked for it, and then get prosecuted for offending the wrong feelings? Not on our watch. If the High Court sides with the prosecutors, don't be shocked if Coskun ends up trading rainy London for somewhere he can speak his mind without fearing a knock from the thought police. America still has room for guys who refuse to shut up.
What do you folks think? Is Trump right for getting involved in UK insanity?
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