Pictured: Man, 50, accused of religiously-motivated harassment after Koran was burned exterior Turkish consulate
A 50-year-old man has denied religiously motivated harassment after a Koran was burned outside the Turkish consulate in London.
Hamit Coskun, 50, from Derby, has been charged with ‘intent to cause against religious institution of Islam, harassment, alarm or distress’ during an incident near the consulate in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, central London, on Thursday.
Footage posted on social media appeared to show a man burning a book outside its barrier.
The same man is then seen lying on the ground as someone kicks him and slashes towards him with a knife before walking away.
In dramatic scenes, the attacker could be seen brandishing the weapon while standing above the man on the road.
The attacker could also be seen spitting at him, having snatched the burning book off of him.
Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, Coskun spoke through an interpreter as he entered not guilty pleas.
He wore a grey tracksuit top and had a bandage on his left hand.
He was released on conditional bail and will appear before the same court for trial on May 28.
Moussa Kadri, 59, from Kensington and Chelsea, has also been charged with causing actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was bailed and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Hamit Coskun, 50, from Derby, has been charged with ‘intent to cause against religious institution of Islam, harassment, alarm or distress’ after a Koran was burned outside the Turkish consulate in London on Thursday
Footage posted on social media appeared to show a man burning a book outside the barrier of the Turkish embassy
File photo of the Turkish Consulate on Belgrave Square in London
The Koran, also called the Qur’an or Quran, is the main religious text of Islam.
Posting on X, Coskun had said he was protesting against the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
He claimed that Turkey is being turned into a ‘base for radical Islamists’.
Coskun later posted: ‘While I was burning the Quran, I was attacked with a knife. The ambulance and the police came.’
He earlier said he was going to London to burn the book ‘for Salwan Momika’ and posted videos of him burning it and stuffing pages down a loo.
Momika was killed in Södertälje, Stockholm, after burning the Koran outside Stockholm Central Mosque in 2023.
The Iraqi refugee was notorious for staging public demonstrations where he burnt and destroyed the Islamic holy book – a stunt that enraged Muslims around the world.
A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Korans at a slew of protest in 2023, and his co-protester Salwan Najem, were guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.
The footage then cuts to the man lying on the road, being kicked violently by another man
Shockingly, he performed a slashing motion with a knife at the first man
According to the charge sheet, the duo had desecrated and burned the Koran and had also made derogatory remarks about Muslims.
It postponed the ruling to February 3, saying that ‘because Salwan Momika has died, more time is needed’.
Momika first sparked global anger in June 2023 when he set a Koran on fire and stomped on the holy book outside Stockholm’s main mosque, with several Muslim countries condemning Sweden for allowing the Iraqi man to perform the act during the Eid al-Adha holiday and the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Burning the Koran is seen by Muslims as a blasphemous act because they consider it the literal word of God.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE joined in the chorus of condemnation, with the US also calling the protest ‘disrespectful and hurtful’.
Dozens of Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in response to Momika’s stunt, with videos showing an angry mob breaking through an iron gate and climbing on top of the compound.
The demonstrators also distributed leaflets that carried messages in Arabic and English that said: ‘Our constitution is the Koran. Our leader is Al-Sadr’.
‘Yes, yes to the Koran,’ was also scrawled on the gate leading to the embassy, according to the photographer.
Momika later pulled a similar stunt, in which he burned the Koran outside the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm.
The activist received a string of death threats as a result.
