Koran burner told of imminent terror threat to his life

An asylum seeker who burnt the Koran has received a police warning of a terror plot to murder him, The Telegraph understands.

Hamit Coskun was woken by officers acting on behalf of the Metropolitan Police at 2am on Saturday, who told him of “an imminent threat”, his lawyers said.

The officers, who were from the force at the location where Coskun is in hiding, are understood to have read out what is known as an Osman warning.

His supporters have accused the Met Police and Crown Prosecution Service of putting his life in danger by pursuing a prosecution against him.

In a letter to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commisioner, on behalf of Coskun, Lord Young of Acton, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, wrote: “We consider that the risk to Mr Coskun’s life was caused, in part, by the actions of your officers and the CPS. “Your force had repeatedly suggested publicly that Mr Coskun had offended the ‘religious institution of Islam’. Doing so has increased the risk to Mr Coskun from Islamic extremists.”

Police are obliged to issue an Osman warning when there is intelligence of the threat, but there is not enough evidence to justify the police arresting the potential murderer.

In a statement after the verdict, Coskun said the decision was “an assault on free speech” that would deter others from exercising their democratic right to protest.

He added: “As an activist, I will continue to campaign against the threat of Islam. “Christian blasphemy laws were repealed in this country more than 15 years ago, and it cannot be right to prosecute someone for blaspheming against Islam.

“Would I have been prosecuted if I’d set fire to a copy of the Bible outside Westminster Abbey? I doubt it.”

He has pledged to continue burning Korans and intends to go on a tour of the UK, visiting Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow, where he will set fire to the holy book. It is unclear if he will resist doing so until the case is heard at appeal – should he be able to challenge the verdict.

The CPS said that Coskun was not being prosecuted for burning the book. They argued it was the combination of his derogatory remarks about Islam and the fact that it was done in public that made it an offence.

The CPS originally charged Coskun, who is an atheist, with harassing the “religious institution of Islam”.