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Nick Timothy, a Conservative Member of Parliament, has introduced a bill to stop judges from using laws against disturbing the public order to stifle criticism of Islam.
(Photo by Roger Harris for U.K. Parliament)
A British legislator has introduced a bill to stop judges from using the Public Order Act as a “de facto blasphemy law,” after two courts used the act to convict two individuals for burning Qur’ans.
“Blasphemy laws are back,” Nick Timothy, a Conservative Member of Parliament, warned Britain’s House of Commons, while presenting his Freedom of Expression (Religion or Belief System) Bill on June 10.
Nick Timothy
“The issue is the way that sections 4 and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 are being used—far beyond the intent of Parliament—to police what we can and cannot say about Islam,” he noted.
The lawmaker explained that his bill “would stop the police, prosecutors and judges from creating a blasphemy law from legislation that was never passed for that purpose,” and that “there will be no special treatment here for Islam.”
Timothy told parliament:
I do not believe that Mohammed was a Prophet sent by God. I do not accept the instructions he said he received from the Archangel Gabriel. I do not accept that the Sunna, or body of Islamic laws, has any relevance to me. I respect the religious beliefs of others, but I do not mind if Mohammed is satirized, criticized or mocked. I am not a Muslim, and I choose not to live by the moral codes set out by Islam. I am a Christian, and I should make it clear that I do not think anybody should be prosecuted for satirizing, criticizing, or mocking Jesus either.
Lawmaker Defends ‘Provocative’ Actions of Qur’an Burners
The MP reported that he had been “advised not to refer to two high-profile cases of people being arrested, charged and prosecuted for causing harassment, alarm or distress to Muslims or even, nonsensically, to Islam itself” when speaking in Parliament about his proposed bill.
In comments to Focus on Western Islamism (FWI), however, Timothy named Martin Frost and Hamit Coskun, who were recently charged under the Public Order Act with causing distress to bystanders after they set fire to the Qur’an and insulted Islam.
“The Public Order Act is increasingly being used as a blasphemy law to protect Islam from criticism,” Timothy told FWI. “My Bill will put a stop to this and restore our freedom of speech — and our right to criticise any and all religions, including Islam.”
The lawmaker stressed that using laws against disorderly conduct to prosecute two individuals who “burned the Qur’an and insulted Islam” is “especially perverse, since it makes a protestor accountable for the actions of those who respond with violence to criticism of their faith.”
“While these are provocative acts, they should not be banned under a de facto blasphemy law, whether that be the Public Order Act or any other legislation,” Timothy said, noting that his bill will restore “freedom of speech” and the “right to criticise any and all religions, including Islam.”
“We should be honest that the law is only being used in this way because the authorities have become afraid of the violent reaction of mobs of people who want to impose their values on the rest of us,” Timothy acknowledged.
Courts Use Public Order Act to Convict Qur’an Burners
The legislator described how Greater Manchester Police charged Martin Frost with burning a Qur’an outside the memorial for the Manchester Arena bombing victims on February 1. His daughter had recently died in the war in Gaza, triggering his protest and the deterioration of his mental health.
Judge Margaret McCormack told Frost, “The Qur’an is a sacred book to Muslims, and treating it as you did is going to cause extreme distress.” Frost was released on bail and is awaiting trial.
In the second incident, Hamit Coskun, a Turkish political refugee, was fined £240 with a statutory surcharge of £96 for burning the Qur’an and insulting Islam outside the Turkish Embassy in London on February 13.
“There were likely to be Muslims in the location who would suffer harassment, alarm, or distress,” Judge John McGarva told Coskun, an atheist whose mother’s family was killed in the Armenian genocide.
Coskun was attacked by a knife-wielding Moussa Kadri and kicked by a delivery driver after he fell to the ground. “A man took exception to him burning his holy book, and a passing delivery rider kicked him when he was on the floor,” McGarva stated in his ruling.
Turkish Atheist Reveals Struggle for Free Speech to FWI
Speaking to FWI, Coskun, who has since been forced into hiding, said that “the price of this struggle has been heavy” for him. “I have been struggling as an activist for 33 years. I have been in prison for years in Türkiye, I have been tortured,” he stressed.
“On February 16, after returning from London, I was attacked by two Iraqi Muslims in Derby, but the police released those attackers the same evening,” Coskun revealed. “Since Islam is a deadly threat to the nations of the world, every corner of the world is a battlefield for me.”
“Yes, the spread of Islam is an invasion. By struggling, I want to raise awareness in society against the invasion of Islam. This drives the Islamists crazy,” he added. “I continue my struggle by using my right to expression.”
Recognizing the dangers faced by individuals like Coskun, Timothy told Parliament that “there are at least 14 Muslim-majority countries where the penalty for blasphemy or apostasy is death, and we have significant diaspora populations from many of them.”
“With the number of people here who came from those countries growing and the increasing assertiveness of organised political Islam in Britain, this is a problem that seems likely only to get more severe,” he warned.
Timothy said he was bringing forward his bill, which has been co-signed by 11 other lawmakers, because “the answer is not to surrender to the mob; it is to hold the line” since “there will be no surrender to the thugs who want to impose their beliefs and culture on the rest of us.”
Coskun reiterated Timothy’s sentiments to FWI: “I am a humanist; I am against violence. But the Islamists are trying to kill me. They take their orders from the Qur’an. I am not afraid. I know they will try to kill me. There is a price for my struggle and I am ready to pay that price.”
