(GB News) Prosecutors have removed references to “the institution of Islam” from charges against a man who burned a Koran in central London.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has amended a charge against Hamit Coskun, 50, who set fire to a copy of the Muslim holy book outside the Turkish consulate in London.
Coskun, who lives in Derby, is no longer accused of harassing the “religious institution of Islam” — with the CPS admitting it had “incorrectly applied” the term.
It has since substituted in a new charge to “more accurately reflect the alleged offence.”
GB News understands the charge will be updated to say that he was motivated wholly or partly by hostility towards members of a religious group, namely followers of Islam, based on their membership of that group, contrary to section 31(1)(c) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.
