U.S. may grant Hamit Coskun refugee status after London Quran burning
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According to reports, the Trump administration is considering intervening in the case of a protester fined for burning a Quran in front of the Turkish Consulate in London; British prosecutors are trying to reinstate the overturned conviction.
Authorities are said to be discussing granting refugee status to 51-year-old Hamit Coşkun if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) wins his appeal. Telegram The case is one of several “noted by management.”
Coşkun, of Armenian-Kurdish origin, said from Türkiye, where he first sought asylum in the UK, that Islamic extremists had “destroyed” his family’s life and that he was imprisoned for protesting Islamist rule.
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Hamit Coşkun said that he could “escape” to America if the Crown Prosecutor’s Office is successful in its objection to the Supreme Court. (Aaron Chown/PA images via Getty Images)
On February 13, 2025, he went to the Turkish Consulate in London and set the Holy Quran on fire, chanting “Islam is Allah” slogans. [the] religion of terror” and “f— Islam.”
Here, passerby Moussa Kadri chased him with a knife, kicked him and spat on him.
Kadri was later convicted of assault and possession of a bladed article in a public place and given a suspended prison sentence.
Originally “accused of harassment”Islamic religious institutionCoşkun’s case prompted intervention by the National Secular Association and the Freedom of Expression Union, which argued that prosecutors were effectively reviving blasphemy laws that had been repealed in 2008.
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Coşkun was convicted and fined for a religiously aggravated public order offense in June 2025.
That October, Coşkun conviction overturned When a judge ruled that burning the Quran was “deeply distressing and offensive” to many Muslims, the right to free expression “must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.”
While the CPS is now seeking to overturn that decision in London’s High Court, Coşkun told The Telegraph that he may have to “flee” the country if his appeal goes against him.
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“I fear freedom of expression is in decline in Britain and across Europe,” Vice-President JD Vance said at the 2025 Munich Security Conference. (Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)
“For me, as a victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may have to flee the UK and move to the US, where President Trump defends freedom of expression and opposes Islamic extremism.”
“If I have to do this, then in my view the UK will have effectively fallen into Islamism and the rules of speech it wants to impose on the non-Muslim world.” he added.
President Donald Trump and the US administration have already criticized UK and European governments for increased restrictions on speech.
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In 2025, Trump criticized the UK’s laws on online expression, saying that “weird things are happening” there and that it was “not a good thing”.
At the Munich Security Conference in 2025, Vice-President JD Vance also said: “I fear freedom of expression is in decline in Britain and across Europe.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment.
