In a ruling which lends further credibility to understandable claims of two-tier justice in modern Britain, a Muslim man who attacked someone for setting fire to the Koran outside the Turkish consulate has been spared jail.
After seeing Hamit Coskun setting alight a copy of the central holy book in Islam, Moussa Kadri attacked him, saying,“I’m going to kill you”, before slashing him with a knife. Coskun, of Armenian and Kurdish descent, reportedly shouted “Islam is the religion of terrorism” during his demonstration.
After the incident in Knightsbridge’s Rutland Gardens, Kadri told police that he was protecting his religion. Earlier this summer, Coskun was fined after being found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence, with District Judge John McGarva describing Coskun’s conduct as “provocative and taunting” and telling him: “You have a deep-seated hatred of Islam and its followers."
Yesterday, Judge Adam Hiddleston handed Kadri a 20-week prison sentence (suspended for 18 months). In the sentencing remarks, Kadri was described as “someone of hitherto exemplary character”, with his charitable activities being noted.
As a Muslim social conservative who considers Islam to be a positive source of family-orientedness, self-discipline, resilience, and optimism for many in the UK and beyond, I find the desecration of the Koran and the caricaturing of my faith as uniquely terroristic and grotesque. But Kadri being spared jail sets a bad precedent.
Tweeting is now a more serious crime than attacking a Koran-burning protestor with a knife - Rakib Ehsan
|Northamptonshire Police/CPS
Coskun, who travelled from his home in Derby to the Turkish consulate, was being unquestionably provocative and, judging by what he shouted during his demonstration, was motivated by a specific form of hate.
But Kadri – who went inside his property to arm himself with a knife after coming across Coskun – slashed him, kicked him multiple times after he fell to the ground, and spat at him.
Considering there are cases of people – including the recently released Lucy Connolly - being put into prison for admittedly inflammatory social media posts, the fact that Kadri has been spared jail reeks of two-tier governance.
Irrespective of how much one’s personal faith means to them and their history of charity work, avoiding prison time for blatant acts of religiously motivated violence is unacceptable in modern Britain.
While religious freedom is an integral part of modern British life, this cannot be extended to the point that an individual can avoid jail after attacking someone with a knife, kicking and spitting at them, on the grounds that they were ‘protecting’ their religion.
Kadri avoiding prison for his attack on Coskun is certainly not a victory for British Muslims and so-called ‘community relations’ – it will only exacerbate the growing perception that followers of Islam are beneficiaries of preferential treatment under the judicial system.
That in turn risks increasing anti-Muslim hostility in Britain and feeding the belief that Islam has no place in a pluralistic liberal democracy.
It also makes a mockery of ‘equality before the law’ – the fundamental legal principle in our society – at a time when there is a lack of trust in our criminal justice system.
By being soft on Kadri, Judge Hiddleston has not done British Muslims, social cohesion, and public confidence in the court system any favours at all.