Hamit Coskun has spoken exclusively to GB News following his conviction for burning the Koran outside the Turkish Consulate in London.

The 50-year-old asylum seeker from Turkey expressed shock at Monday's guilty verdict at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

"To be honest, this was not a decision I was expecting. I was found guilty. I don't think there's a legal standing for this verdict," Coskun told GB News.

"What I did was only use my freedom of expression. Freedom of demonstration is a democratic right, and you do it in the street."

Hamit Coskun has spoken exclusively to GB News following his conviction

The Turkey-born activist, who is half-Kurdish and half-Armenian, carried out the protest in Rutland Gardens, Knightsbridge, on February 13 whilst shouting "f*** Islam" and "Islam is religion of terrorism".

Coskun was convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence of using disorderly behaviour "within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress".

In the GB News interview, Coskun defended his actions by explaining his background as an Islam critic.

The atheist activist described himself as someone who has "been fighting for 25 years now" against what he sees as Islamic propaganda.

He told Patrick Christys on GB News: "The slogans I'm shouting are not random sentences I'm making up. I'm an atheist, I'm an Islam critic, and I'm an activist.

"I've been fighting for 25 years now. Because of the recent developments in Turkey and the fact that the country is going more and more towards Islamic propaganda, it pushed me. It caused me to have impulses against these impacts, and I got really emotive about this."

"The people I'm criticising are the radical Islamists, and I'm aware that it would upset them. For years, I was against ripping up the Koran or tearing the pages.

"But because it's been spreading everywhere, the radical Islamists and the Islamic propaganda I decided to protest, demonstrate on the streets, and burn the Koran.

"I've been writing and expressing my opinions for years, but now, to be able to make a bigger impact, I decided this would be the right action.

"I'm not criticising Muslims. I'm criticising the religion Islam itself. I'm trying to raise awareness about the effects of the Koran."

Hamit Coskun spoke exclusively to GB News

District Judge John McGarva issued a £240 fine and rejected suggestions that the prosecution represented "an attempt to bring back and expand blasphemy law".

The judge ruled that whilst burning a religious book and criticising Islam are "not necessarily disorderly", Coskun's conduct became disorderly due to "the timing and location of the conduct and that all this was accompanied by abusive language".

Judge McGarva found that Coskun has a "deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers" based on his experiences in Turkey and his family's experiences.

The judge stated it was "not possible to separate his views about the religion from his views about its followers".