Gen X of the North

🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: MAJOR VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH! HAMIT COSKUN WINS HIS APPEAL AGAINST ISLAMIC BLASPHEMY LAW The Free Speech Union is delighted that Hamit Coskun’s appeal has been successful. Hamit was convicted under the Public Order Act for burning a copy of the Koran during a lawful protest against the rise of political Islam and authorities in Turkey under President Erdoğan’s regime. The court conflated his political protest against Islam with hatred of Muslims, effectively reviving blasphemy law by the back door. It ruled his action as “disorderly” — not because of what Hamit did, but because it provoked violence against him, namely a man called Moussa Kadri slashed a knife at him and shouted “I’m going to kill you”. Kadri was spared jail time, and actions were used to prove Hamit’s guilt. Meanwhile, Hamit is forced to live in hiding due to multiple threats to his life. Hamit’s conviction has now been overturned. 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. Instead, the Crown Court has sent the opposite message - that anti-religious protests, however offensive to true believers, must be tolerated.