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    38 Comments

    1. High-Tom-Titty on

      Good. It needs to go to trial. Burning books, flags or whatever as long as you own them shouldn’t be a crime. Maybe a fine for littering, or having a fire in a public place, if that’s a thing.

    2. ImJustARunawaay on

      How can a supposed modern liberal democracy support this sort of legislation and prosecution. Ridiculous

    3. illegalbusiness on

      Probably shouldn’t say this out loud but I once accidentally burnt a Qur’an. Mum gave me loads of books to put on a bonfire as a kid for bonfire night and there was a Qur’an in it. Sent that fucker up like it owed me money. Neither of us have really spoken about it since. Oh and neither of us are Muslim (my dad was Persian but did not practise Islam). Probably going to the seventh layer of hell or whatevs.

    4. Consistent-Two-1463 on

      what about the fella that tried to kill him with the knife ? is that not more important ?

    5. Ok_Refuse_6374 on

      I mean… Is this the UK or Pakistan? Maybe we could try stoning him as a punishment to really fit in.

    6. CountyJazzlike3628 on

      I am stunned that the charge reads ‘…against the religious institution of Islam…’!

    7. I really do think we should adopt an american style free speach law/right to avoid silly things like this happening.

    8. This should go all the way to trail and then we can all see the truth that we have had defacto blasphemy laws imposed on us via the backdoor.

      All to appease barbaric religions.

    9. HotHuckleberry3454 on

      We are all rooting for him. Let’s not make blasphemy (religious aggravation – doublespeak) a thing.

    10. The idea of superstitions being given legal protection belongs in the dark ages. You can’t help your sexuality, age, race, gender, disability but religion is something personal that you make a conscious choice about (assuming you haven’t been brainwashed as a child). What next, the Harry Potter fan club getting vocal about people dissing Hagrid?

    11. snowballeveryday on

      No matter what the court decides, he will be murdered by a Muslim eventually because religion demands it blah blah, what’s new here.

    12. averagesophonenjoyer on

      >intent to cause against religious institution of Islam, harassment, alarm or distress

      Are we living in Saudi Arabia? This is worded like we do.

    13. JD Vance looking prophetic right about now. As opportunistic or scummy he is, there’s something in the water in Europe, the Deliveroo driver putting in a few kicks was icing on the cake (chef’s kiss).

    14. “Appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, Coskun spoke through an interpreter as he entered not guilty pleas.

      He wore a grey tracksuit top and had a bandage on his left hand.

      He was released on conditional bail and will appear before the same court for trial on May 28.

      Moussa Kadri, 59, from Kensington and Chelsea, has also been charged with causing actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.

      He was bailed and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.”

      As I feel like the facts of the matter at hand have been purposefully obfuscated, I think this piece of context from the article is important. Both individuals were bailed, and the man who attempted to stab the burner is in court Monday, the burner is also on bail, and is due to go to court in May…as you would expect, the much more serious offence (the stabbing) is taken seriously

    15. Forsaken-Director683 on

      Why is it we are expected to have agency for pretty much everything. Yet we are allowed to get people arrested over aggravating us with words or a relatively harmless action?

      Surely, any Muslim (or anyone for that matter) frothing at the mouth over this should be told to just grow up and that this is part and parcel of a multicultural society.

      It was only around 6 months ago people were being condemned for being angry over kids being stabbed to death.

      I’m all for people believing whatever they want to believe, but society is fucked if it stays a societal issue rather than the belief just being a personal and private thing.

    16. -Drunken_Jedi- on

      Honestly it feels like a modern day blasphemy law.

      The world we live in when books on LGBT people are being removed from libraries and schools, or even burned in places like America, but god forbid someone torches a book about a fake deity.

    17. klepto_entropoid on

      There should be no legal framework that “protects” hurt feelings caused by non-violent or verbal action(s). What these laws do is encourage religious fanaticism not suppress it.

    18. averagesophonenjoyer on

      Imagine protesting the Turkish government because you’re unhappy with the direction your secular homeland is going in. You know you’d be arrested for this in Turkey. But you’re in liberal democracy Britain.

      Then they arrest you anyway.

    19. ambivalent_mrlit on

      If any other book can be burned with no consequence then the quran should not be excempt from this. If you hold a book in your hands that is your property, you should be allowed to do what you want with it without getting a knife swung at you.

    20. Religion always trying to drag us back to the stone age. Blasphemy is actually a very good thing to do, it’s morally superior to having a religion. Do it every day. Burn a quran now, you’ll be a better person for it.

    21. CobblerSmall1891 on

      Can I ask, if thousands of people all burned Quran together as a group would the law be similar? Just wondering.

    22. modsarescourge-3468 on

      Good on the bloke. The fact that people are dying routinely in Europe for doing this recently says more people need to come together and destroy Islamism that has now a firm hold in Europe.

      Now governments need to clamp down and route out these individuals.

    23. Upper-Level5723 on

      The fact they’re trying to charge aggravation proves the point entirely. People should not be able to be so easily get “aggravated” or “incited” to violence over a single book, this is a problem.

      This is not the same as if the government was mass burning books which would be understandable.

    24. Great, my new religion finds useless politicians offensive. Can we get them all put in jail please. Ridiculous.

      Let me guess “Religious Aggravation” is once again, ONLY EVER when its Islam.

    25. Blasphemy laws have no place in the UK. It’s a book! Should be no different than burning other works of fiction like Harry Potter

    26. Religion has no basis in this case.

      The person should never have been arrested.

      This should never have gone to court.

    27. amazingusername100 on

      I don’t want to sound like a shitbag, but it’s not the middle ages, simply burning a religious text might be offensive to some, idiotic to others, but not a crime.

    28. “Religious aggravation” against the “institution of Islam”?? I’m sorry, are we now living in a totalitarian theocracy where I should care about the institution of Islam? I’m alarmed and distressed by this wording! Can the author be arrested?

      Why is the UK sleepwalking into this nightmare?

    29. Difficult_Answer3549 on

      I feel like current UK would treat Sinead O’Connor worse than the Americans did in ’92 if her target was Islam.