Hamit Coskun during an appearance on GB News.
The Trump administration is preparing to grant refugee status to a man who burned a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London and is now facing further legal proceedings in the UK.
Hamit Coskun, 51, previously had a conviction for a religiously aggravated public order offence overturned after he set fire to a copy of the Koran during a protest in Knightsbridge.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is challenging that ruling at a High Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Britain Imposes Islamic Blasphemy Law as Man is Convicted of Burning a Quran
A senior U.S. administration official told The Telegraph that it was “one of several cases the administration has made note of.”
Coskun, who sought asylum in Britain from Turkey, has said he may seek protection in the United States if his acquittal is reversed.
“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,” he 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.”
The Trump administration is considering offering Mr Coskun political asylum in the US should he lose his blasphemy case tomorrow.
Hamit fled persecution in Turkey and sought asylum in the UK. Last February, he set fire to a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in Knightsbridge in… pic.twitter.com/jlJjw6xaUM
— The Free Speech Union (@SpeechUnion) February 16, 2026
In February last year, Coskun appeared outside the Turkish consulate and set fire to the Koran while shouting slogans critical of Islam.
During the incident, a passerby attacked him and was later given a suspended prison sentence.
Initially charged with harassing the “religious institution of Islam,” Coskun was later prosecuted for disorderly behaviour and fined $300
His conviction was overturned at Southwark Crown Court, where Mr Justice Bennathan said freedom of expression “must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.”
Last year, Hamit Coskun burned a Quran during a peaceful one-man protest outside the Turkish consulate. He hurt no one. He threatened no one.
Yet he was prosecuted and convicted under public order laws.
In fact, Coskun was the one attacked – a man wielding a knife threatened…
— Stephen Evans (@Stephenmevans1) February 16, 2026
During his first trial, the left-wing activist Judge John McGarva denounced his act as “provocative and taunting” and accused him of harboring a “deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers.”
“It’s not possible to separate your views about the religion to your views about the followers,” McGarva declared.
“Your actions in burning the Quran where you did were highly provocative, and your actions were accompanied by bad language in some cases directed toward the religion and were motivated at least in part by hatred of followers of the religion,” he continued.
The case has drawn attention in Washington as the White House seeks to highlight to widespread attacks on freedom of speech across most European countries.
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