The Telegraph reports that the Trump administration is preparing to offer refugee status to Hamit Coskun, a 51-year-old Turkish asylum seeker of Armenian-Kurdish descent living in the UK, if he loses an upcoming High Court case this week. In February 2025, Coskun publicly burned a copy of the Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London while shouting anti-Islam slogans, including “Islam is the religion of terrorism” and “f— Islam.” He was initially convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence and fined £240, but that conviction was overturned on appeal in October 2025. The judge emphasized that freedom of expression includes the right to offend, shock, or disturb, rejecting what critics called a de facto blasphemy law.
The Crown Prosecution Service is now appealing that acquittal at the High Court, arguing the act constituted disorderly behavior. Coskun, who fled Turkey after claiming Islamic extremists destroyed his family and jailed him for protest, says a loss would force him to flee the UK for the US, where he views President Trump as a defender of free speech against Islamic extremism. Free speech groups like the National Secular Society and Free Speech Union warn that reinstating the conviction would create a “stabber’s veto,” allowing violence to limit expression, and effectively impose blasphemy rules by the back door.
A senior US official confirmed Coskun’s case is among several the administration is monitoring for potential refugee protection, amid broader transatlantic tensions over UK’s free speech policies, including the Online Safety Act and criticisms of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s approach to speech and Islamophobia definitions. This potential intervention could heighten diplomatic strains between the US and UK.
