Further update: August 2026
Free Speech Union member Stephen Gray, a retired police officer, was convicted at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on 30 April 2026 for a Facebook post found to be “grossly offensive”, an offence under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. Stephen had reposted a message he saw on his Facebook feed, which read:
Fun facts about bacon!
People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9 year old!
When giving evidence, Stephen explained that the post was a reference to the marriage between the Prophet Mohammed and Aisha. His purpose was to start a discussion about whether that marriage had contributed to the acceptability of child marriage in Muslim countries. The post was satirical, but the intention behind it was serious, he said.
District Judge Steven Hood found that the post was indeed grossly offensive. He dismissed the notion that it raised serious political issues regarding child marriage. He found that it was designed to be offensive and that it was not capable of being a serious post because it was framed in such a light-hearted way. DJ Hood went on to conclude that a conviction would not be a disproportionate interference with Stephen’s right to freedom of expression.
Stephen is appealing his conviction in the Crown Court later this year and the Free Speech Union is supporting him. We have instructed a top criminal silk, John Beggs KC, to represent Stephen.
The Free Speech Union is no stranger to this kind of state overreach. Earlier this year, we backed Hamit Coskun when he was put on trial for burning a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish consulate. He was initially convicted, but we helped him appeal and his conviction was overturned. The Crown Prosecution Service then appealed his acquittal and we defended him again. Again, we were successful.
More recently, we threatened South Wales Police with legal action for adopting a gold-plated version of the Government’s definition of anti-Muslim hostility. As a result, they withdrew the definition.
At a time when criticism of religion is under threat, Stephen’s case gives us the chance to re-affirm the principle that there’s nothing illegal about criticising Islam.
It should not be an offence to repost views about Islam that some Muslims find offensive.
With your support, we hope to be able to pay for Stephen’s legal defence in the Crown Court and meet the costs of any further appeal.
Since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, three men have been arrested for burning copies of the Quran. Two have been prosecuted. The FSU has represented all three. Which is why we need your help.
In spite of our recent victory, the CPS is still prosecuting another Free Speech Union Member. On 1st of February 2025, Martin Frost set fire to a copy of the Quran in Manchester city centre. The police were soon on the scene and he told them he was demonstrating solidarity with another anti-Islam activist in Sweden, Salwan Momika, who'd recently been murdered after burning a Quran. Martin was charged with an offence under the Public Order Act 1986.
We believe the case against Martin should be thrown out. There's no offence of blasphemy in English law — it was repealed 18 years ago. In our recent case, the High Court has been clear: other laws, like public order offences, cannot be twisted in an attempt to bring this offence back via the rear door.
Despite representations from a crack legal team provided by the FSU, the CPS seems determined to prosecute Martin. In Hamit’s case, they instructed one of the most expensive KCs in the country to convince judges that Quran burning was illegal — and the CPS succeeded in getting a conviction against Hamit before we got it overturned. So we need to be prepared to fight for Martin and others.
Martin’s trial is listed at Manchester Crown Court for 13th-15th of November 2027. We may be successful in getting the case dismissed, but we need your help.
We don’t know for sure why so many Quran burners have been arrested in the last year. But we do know that Keir Starmer has been ambivalent about free speech — and Islam — in the past. He and his ministers seem determined to bring back a blasphemy law via the back door — a law that criminalises breaching Islamic blasphemy codes, but not Christian ones.
Will you join us to send Starmer a message that we won’t stand for this? As well as fighting for Martin, we are helping other individuals who've found themselves on the wrong side of the law for expressing concerns about Islam and Islamists. Anything you donate will help us to fight these cases too.
We can win this fight, but only if we stand together. The enemies of free speech hunt in packs. We need to band together to defend it.
Please donate using the link at the top of this page.
Donations to this appeal will be received and administered as part of the Free Speech Union's Legal Defence Fund. The Fund exists solely to support legal advice and litigation on behalf of FSU members in free speech cases and the FSU itself when it brings free speech cases in its own name. Contributions are pooled and applied by the FSU to support current and future cases involving our members' speech rights, including the case featured here. No part of any donation will be used for the Free Speech Union's general operating expenses or staff costs.
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