UK street preacher talks about free speech in England after arrest
Christian preacher Hatun Tash talks to Fox News Digital about her June 2022 arrest after winning payout from police and the status of free speech in the UK.
A female Christian evangelist in the United Kingdom who was arrested and strip searched by the police after conversing with Muslims in a famous free speech area, has reportedly won £10,000 in damages from the police for her ordeal, according to a press release from legal advocacy group Christian Concern.
Hatun Tash, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity, has preached the Bible and debated Muslims at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London, for over 10 years. On June 26, 2022, Tash was setting up her camera at Speakers' Corner, when a man ran up and stole her copy of the Quran, according to a legal threat sent by Tash's lawyer to The Metropolitan Police after her arrest. Tash used a Quran with holes in it during her preaching as a visual aid.
Another man reportedly held Tash's tripod and prevented her from chasing the thief. After Tash's friends called the emergency line, officers arrived and forcibly removed the preacher from the area as a growing crowd of men pursued her and shouted, "Allahu Akbar" while making attempts to assault her, the lawyer's letter said. The 2022 incident was also captured on video and recently made public on YouTube.
Tash's belongings were allegedly left by police at the scene. Her lawyer argued police violated her human rights after they "wrongfully detained" her for 15 hours, strip searched her, took her glasses and questioned her in the middle of the night.
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Hatun Tash was awarded £10,000 payout from the Met Police in a settlement after being arrested and detained in June of 2022. (Getty Images)
Police told the Christian preacher she had been arrested for "criminal damage" due to her Quran, even though it was her property, as well as "intention to stir up racial hatred by use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting," because she was wearing a Charlie Hebdo t-shirt which depicted the Prophet Mohammed, according to the lawyer's letter.
Tash's lawyers argued that her rights to freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion had been breached under Articles 9 & 10 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). They sought damages for assault, wrongful arrest, unlawful imprisonment and harassment and legal fees, as well as an apology and agreement that the police would not "continue to harass her."
A settlement was recently reached, according to the Christian Legal Centre, and the Metropolitan Police.
"The Metropolitan Police has reached a settlement in relation to a proposed civil claim brought in relation to an arrest in 2022. We are not prepared to discuss details of the proposed claim or settlement further," a Met spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Tash told Fox News Digital this isn't the first time she's experienced similar incidents with law enforcement at Speakers' Corner.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2020/10/24: Demonstrators gather at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park ahead of the march through the city. (Getty Images)
The former Muslim-turned-evangelist runs a ministry called "Defend Christ, Critique Islam." She has over 690,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel where she argues for Christianity and against the Islamic religion.
But her boldness in sharing her faith has made her a target for extremists. She has been stabbed, been the target of a terrorist plot, and wrongfully arrested multiple times at the free speech location over the past few years.
In her experience, the police have been lenient toward those who've threatened her and she says that has only emboldened more extremists to come after her. Like some others in Britain, she feels like there's an emerging "two-tier" justice system in the UK.
"Once Muslims kind of figured out, okay, nothing is happening, [once] they overstepped the law, then they started coming as mobs. So, like a group of ten, 20 of them simply would come and just harass me, making sure that I don't use my freedom of speech, making sure that I do not talk," she told Fox News Digital. "And every time there was tension, police would be the one concerned that they moved me or arrest me. None of those individuals ever were told off or told to be stopped. Police's approach was it is easier to remove me so that Muslim people can continue what they are doing."
Hatun Tash was stabbed at Speakers' Corner on July 25, 2021. (Christian Concern/YouTube)
"It's not only at Speakers' Corner. We get to see the same thing in schools," she said, explaining about a teacher who is still reportedly in hiding after showing a Mohammed cartoon to his class in 2021.
Tash relayed incidents where she sought help from the police after people had threatened her life, but she said her pleas for help were dismissed by law enforcement. One time, she was stalked by two men for hours, but police wouldn't help, she claims, telling her they were "not her bodyguard."
"I had to leave the police station knowing that two men have been following me for two hours now. Anything could happen. My phone is already dead. You kind of think, okay, if they throw acid on me and then if someone finds me in the morning, will they recognize me?" she said.
At this point, Tash said it feels "like the police are more concerned about Muslims' feelings than my rights or my life."
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A Muslim woman protests against the cartoons of the prophet, already published several times by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on October 30, 2020, in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Sirio Tessitore/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Despite these circumstances, she remains steadfast in her commitment to keep preaching.
"As long as the Lord gives me breath, I'm planning to preach the gospel because I think even though there are lots of negative things that are happening. For me, the solution is Jesus Christ. I saw how he transformed me. He will transform these individuals," she said.
Tash says she engages with imams at mosques and has seen approximately 20 imams who've left Islam and become Christians, as well as approximately 1,000 Muslims in England. On her YouTube platform, her ministry disciples hundreds of people from Muslim majority countries, she says.
"We are open to debates and discussions," she said. "It gives people to make their own choices, whether they want to be Muslim or they don't want to be Muslim, whether they want to become a Christian or not. So I have been someone who has been put in a place of privilege to see how my God steps in and changes and transforms lives. So, in that sense, I'm so grateful to the Lord."
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The Metropolitan Police did not comment on Tash's claims about two-tier policing, when asked by Fox News Digital about the settlement.
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