The Trump administration reportedly is discussing the possibility of granting refugee status to a man who was fined for burning the Quran at a protest outside the Turkish Consulate in London. According to Fox News, U.K. officials are looking to reinstate his overturned conviction. State Department officials are weighing if they’ll help 51-year-old Hamit Coskun flee the United Kingdom if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) wins its appeal. The Trump administration is in talks to accept Hamit Coskun, who burnt a Koran in a protest outside the Turkish embassy, as a refugee from Britain if his 'blasphemy' conviction is reinstated by the High Court this week. https://t.co/87CNiVrzqZ — The Daily Sceptic (@LD_Sceptics) February 16, 2026 The Telegraph explained further: The potential intervention is likely to escalate transatlantic tensions over free speech, which critics have claimed is being eroded under Sir Keir Starmer’s Government. Mr Coskun overturned a conviction for a religiously aggravated public order offence after he burnt the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in London. However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is contesting that decision at a hearing in the High Court on Tuesday. A senior US administration official said his case was “one of several cases the administration has made note of”. Mr Coskun sought asylum in the UK from his home country of Turkey, saying Islamic terrorists had destroyed his family’s life. He told The Telegraph that, if he did lose his case, he may be forced “to flee” and seek protection in the US. “For me, as the victim of Islamic terrorism, I cannot remain silent. I may be forced to flee the UK and move to the USA, where President Trump has stood for free speech and against Islamic extremism,” Coskun said, according to the outlet. “If I have to do so, then, to me, the UK will have effectively fallen to Islamism and the speech codes that it wishes to impose on the non-Muslim world,” he added. “Britain could be living under an Islamic blasphemy law in 24 hours. This is how free speech dies,” GB News stated. Britain could be living under an Islamic blasphemy law in 24 hours. This is how free speech dies – Toby Younghttps://t.co/08RUlrPzV9 — GB News (@GBNEWS) February 16, 2026 “We don’t want Islamic blasphemy laws in this country,” Conservative MP Nick Timothy commented. We don’t want Islamic blasphemy laws in this country. My letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions. pic.twitter.com/e3qJVmqusW — Nick Timothy MP (@NJ_Timothy) February 13, 2026 Fox News has more: On Feb. 13, 2025, he traveled to the Turkish Consulate in London and set fire to a copy of the Quran while shouting slogans including “Islam is [the] religion of terrorism” and “f— Islam.” There he was attacked by Moussa Kadri, a passerby who chased him with a knife, kicked him and spat on him. Kadri later received a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of assault and having a bladed article in a public place. Initially charged with harassing the “religious institution of Islam,” Coskun’s case drew intervention from the National Secular Society and the Free Speech Union, who argued prosecutors were effectively reviving blasphemy laws already abolished in 2008. Coskun was convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offense and fined in June 2025. That October, Coskun’s conviction was overturned when a judge ruled that while burning a Quran was “desperately upsetting and offensive” to many Muslims, the right to free expression “must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.” The CPS is now seeking to reverse that decision at London’s High Court, with Coskun telling The Telegraph that if the appeal goes against him, he may be forced “to flee” the country.