LONDON (Reuters) -A man found guilty of committing a religiously aggravated public order offence by setting fire to a copy of the Koran outside London’s Turkish consulate had his conviction overturned on Friday in what supporters said was a victory for free speech.

Hamit Coskun, 51, was fined 240 pounds ($325) at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June after being convicted of an offence by shouting “Fuck Islam” as he held aloft the burning book near the consulate in central London in February.

The decision to overturn that verdict after an appeal at London’s Southwark Crown Court was hailed by his supporters as an important triumph for freedom of expression.

“Hamit Coskun’s protest was a lawful act of political dissent,” Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular So

See Full Page