Freedom includes ‘right to offend’

The right to freedom of expression includes the right to offend, a judge has stressed. Mr Justice Bennathan's comments were made when he overturned the conviction of a man who burned a Qur’an outside the Turkish consulate in London.

Hamit Coskun appealed after being convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence after setting fire to the book and shouting in protest at Islam. A knife-wielding Muslim man who attacked Coskun during his protest was convicted of assault and possession of a knife. The judge said: “Burning a Qur’an may be an act that many Muslims find desperately upsetting and offensive. The criminal law, however, is not a mechanism that seeks to avoid people being upset.

“The price we pay for that is having to allow others to exercise the same rights, even if that upsets, offends or shocks us.”