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Jun 20, 2025  |  
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NextImg:Keir Starmer dragged into Koran-burning row after PM defended protester who defaced US flag

Sir Keir Starmer has been dragged into a Koran-burning court case after it was revealed the Prime Minister had defended a protester who defaced the US flag in 2001.

Hamit Coskun, 50, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with disorderly behaviour likely to cause "harassment, alarm or distress" for setting a Koran alight.

He travelled to the Turkish consulate in London and was accused of setting fire to a Koran with a lighter before allegedly shouting "Islam is religion of terrorism".

A video of the incident went viral after Coskun was attacked and the 50-year-old later claimed that two Iraqi men broke into his home in Derby and threatened him with an ashtray and a knife.

Hamit Coskun

Hamit Coskun will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court

PA

Coskun insists he will enter a not-guilty plea and plans on burning Korans in other cities.

His lawyers claim that he has a human right to peacefully protest under Article 10 of the Convention on Human Rights, which Sir Keir Starmer successfully argued when he was a human rights barrister in 2001.

Starmer told the High Court: "Flag denigration is a form of protest activity renowned the world over." He added that his client had the right to stage a "peaceful protest in a free and democratic society," which the High Court agreed with.