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The Trump administration is considering involvement in the case of a protester who was fined for burning a Quran outside the Turkish Consulate in London, as UK prosecutors look to reinstate his overturned conviction, according to reports.
Officials are said to be discussing granting 51-year-old Hamit Coskun refugee status if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) succeeds in its application, and a US administration official told The Telegraph that the case was one “of the administration’s attention.”
Coskun, who is of Armenian-Kurdish descent, initially sought asylum in the UK from Turkey, where he says Islamist activists have “destroyed” his family’s life and where he was jailed for protesting Islamic rule.
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Hamit Coskun said he may “run away” to America if the federal prosecution succeeds in challenging the case at the Supreme Court. (Photos by Aroni Chown/PA via Getty Images)
On Feb. 13, 2025, went to the Turkish Consulate in London and burned a copy of the Quran while shouting slogans including “Islam is [the] the religion of terrorism” and “f— Islam.”
There he was attacked by Moussa Kadri, a passer-by who chased him with a knife, kicked him and spat on him.
Kadri later received a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of assault and possession of a metal object in a public place.
Originally charged with harassing an “Islamic religious institution,” Coskun’s case drew intervention from the National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, who said prosecutors were effectively renewing blasphemy laws that had already been repealed in 2008.
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Coskun was found guilty of organizing religious evil and fined in June 2025.
That October, Coskun’s conviction was overturned when a judge ruled that while burning the Quran was “deeply offensive and offensive” to many Muslims, the right to free speech “must include the right to express offensive, shocking or disturbing views.”
The CPS is now seeking to overturn that decision at the High Court in London, with Coskun telling The Telegraph that if the decision goes against him, he could be forced to “flee” the country.
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At the 2025 Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance said “in Britain and across Europe, free speech is, I fear, retreating.” (Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)
“For me, as a victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may be forced to flee the UK and move to the USA, where President Trump stands for freedom of speech and opposition to Islamic extremism,” he told the press.
“If I had to do that, in my view, the UK would have fallen into Islamism and the speech codes it wishes to impose on non-Muslim countries,” he added.
President Donald Trump and the US administration have already criticized the UK and European governments for increasing restrictions on speech.
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In 2025, Trump criticized the UK’s laws on online speech, saying “weird things happen” there and that it’s “not a good thing.”
At the Munich Security Conference in 2025, Vice President JD Vance also said, “In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I’m afraid, is going backwards.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment.
