A British court has ruled in favor of a Christian street preacher prosecuted by the police on charges of blaspheming against the Qur’an, Islam, and its founder, Muhammad.
The judgment is a major setback for the Labour government and its Islamist supporters, who are attempting to implement a “blasphemy law” that would limit criticism of Islam by imposing a wide-ranging and disputed definition of “Islamophobia.”
It is not an offense to openly express disagreement with Islamic teaching. Sadly, the police seem to think it is.
The Christian Legal Centre said on Monday that Judge G. Kelly had thrown out the case against evangelist Karandeep Mamman at Wolverhampton Crown Court because the prosecution had failed to bring evidence against the preacher under section 4A of the Public Order Act.
The law prohibits a person from causing “harassment, alarm or distress” by using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior,” or displaying “any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting.”
A group of people angry at a pastor’s preaching formed a ring around him and threatened to kill him in Walsall town center in the West Midlands, England, on January 14, 2023. A witness said the preacher, who was ultimately charged with blasphemy, “wanted to leave but the mob would not let him go.” The mob followed the preacher and only allowed him to go after town center security appeared.
(Screenshot of CCTV footage)
Mamman, who is keeping a low profile to avoid further harassment, was accused of insulting Islam and arrested by the police after an Islamist mob of 20-30 men and women threatened to kill him when they heard him preaching against Islam in Walsall town center in the West Midlands, England, on January 14, 2023.
“Forming a ring around him, Mamman said the group threatened to take him away, beat him up and ‘cut his throat,’” the CLC reported. The threats were made after Mamman had said that the Qur’an presents a false Jesus by presenting him as a prophet rather than the Son of God.
CCTV footage showed the Islamist mob assaulting and harassing the preacher for criticizing the Qur’an. A witness said that Mamman “wanted to leave but the mob would not let him go.” The mob followed Mamman and only allowed him to go after town center security appeared.
A homosexual couple was also filmed calling the police, and assaulting and aggressively ripping apart a sign Mamman was holding. The sign listed commandments from the Bible, including the prohibition of homosexual practice.
The evangelist told the court that he was seeking to defend Christianity as the true religion and so had said words to the effect of: “Islam, you are representing a wrong Jesus.” “Jesus in the Qur’an is not the true Jesus.” “According to the Quran, Muhammad promoted hatred, terrorism, and killing of Jews and Christians who do not convert.”
Mamman denied saying to the Muslim bystanders: “Look. There’s the Muslims. They are terrorists. They killed the Jews. … prophet Muhammad killed all the Jews” or “Prophet Muhammad killed all the Jews.”
When the Islamist mob threatened to assault and abduct him, Mamman responded with words from the Gospel of Luke (13:3): “Except that you repent you are all going to perish.”
Michael Phillips, defense attorney for Mamman, said the preacher’s statements were based on his Christian faith and historical and religious texts. Phillips argued that there were no threats, abuse, or invective directed against an individual, as prohibited by the Public Order Act.
Islamic scholar Martin Parsons demonstrated that the evangelist’s statements on Islam were based on Qur’anic texts. Parsons, who provided expert witness testimony, listed verses from the Qur’an that reveal the promotion of terror and mention military jihad.
“Killing the Jews” is recorded in the Qur’an in the case of the “execution of the entire male population of a Jewish tribe in Medina which early Islamic sources state Muhammad oversaw and acquiesced to,” the expert noted.
Parsons cited Quran 8:12: “Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers’ further. Remember thy lord inspired the angels (with the message) ‘I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: Smite ye above their necks and smite their fingertips off them.’”
There are verses related to jihad and inflicting “terror” on non-Muslims. Support for this interpretation comes from commentaries of classical Islam and sharia textbooks traditionally used in madrassas, Parsons explained, acknowledging that this interpretation is not universal.
The Qur’an contains 164 verses referring to jihad, almost all of these unequivocally refer to military aggression, he observed.
Tim Dieppe, author of the book The Challenge of Islam: Understanding and Responding to Islam’s Increasing Influence in the UK, explained to Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) how the wider implications of Mamman’s victory was a major blow to the attempts by Islamists and the Labour government to impose a controversial definition of “Islamophobia.”
“Allegations of ‘Islamophobia’ have been used to silence or criticize legitimate criticism of Islam the religion, which does not imply any hatred or discrimination against Muslims as people,” Dieppe warned. “The very term ‘Islamophobia’ is problematic since it conflates ‘Islam’ the religion, with Muslims the people.”
“Adopting an official definition of ‘Islamophobia’ will privilege Islam over other religions and serve to legitimize two-tier policing of speech relating to Islamic beliefs or practices,” Dieppe, who has written extensively on the problem of creating a definition of Islamophobia, said.
“It is not an offense to openly express disagreement with Islamic teaching. Sadly, the police seem to think it is,” he stressed. “It is absurd that Mamman was arrested and charged for exercising his right to free speech when he never threatened anyone, while the police did not apprehend those actually threatened to beat him up and ‘cut his throat’ and assaulted him. This smacks of two-tier policing.”
British police arrested a free speech campaigner on February 1, 2025, after he burned a copy of the Qur’an in Manchester city center. The individual was charged with racially aggravated public order offense two days after Salwan Momika, an Iraqi atheist, was assassinated in Sweden after he set fire to the Quran.
The Humanists UK association reprimanded the police for endangering the person by releasing his name, noting: “The destruction of a religious text, like any other form of ‘blasphemy,’ should not in itself be a crime. No disrespect or damage to a ‘sacred’ text can ever justify violence against a human being.”
“The injunction to police so-called hate speech, especially when it comes to ‘Islamophobia’, has led British police forces to routinely do the bidding of Islamic reactionaries,” free speech campaigner and journalist Fraser Myers wrote in an article for Spiked.
“The Labour government is considering whether to impose a broad and controversial definition of Islamophobia on all public bodies, which would chill discussion on just about any issue that might touch on Islam or Muslims,” Myers warned.
“The Europe-wide expansion of hate-speech laws to cover blasphemy against Islam means there is now an alarming affinity between the authorities and hardline Islamic conservatives and even violent Islamist extremists,” he emphasized.
