Koran burning case: CPS tried to create a ‘backdoor blasphemy law’ David Shipley

This week, Sir Joel Bennathan KC overturned the conviction of Hamit Coskun — a Turkish ex-Muslim prosecuted for burning a Quran outside the Turkish consulate. The judge reminded the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) of a fundamental principle: there is no offence of blasphemy in English law. The CPS had attempted to use public order legislation to punish Coskun for “offending religious feelings” — a move journalist David Shipley describes as an attempt to create a “backdoor blasphemy law.” Shipley joins Josh Howie to discuss why this case is a pivotal moment for free speech in Britain, how CPS lawyers effectively invented a charge, and why this issue won’t end here unless politicians hold the CPS to account. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Koran burning case: CPS tried to create a ‘backdoor blasphemy law’ David Shipley is an episode from Free Speech Nation with Andrew Doyle: The Podcast by GB News.

This episode is 1:18:09 long.

This episode was published on Oct 13, 2025.

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