An ex-Muslim Christian preacher who was reported missing following a failed assassination attempt against her has won £10,000 (equivalent to $13406.25) in damages and costs from London’s Metropolitan Police after an incident where she was arrested at the city’s Speakers’ Corner.
Hatan Tash is a Christian Preacher who has just been awarded £10,000 compensation for wrongful arrest.
Watch her get arrested & carted away at Speakers Corner, London, as hordes of Muslim Men taunt her exit.
This is not ok - Britain is not ok ‼️ pic.twitter.com/MDZ01tYVgd— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) September 23, 2024
Hatun Tash, who became known for her public preaching and criticism of Islam, launched legal action after she was arrested, strip-searched, and unlawfully imprisoned after speaking in front of a crowd at Speakers’ Corner in June 2022.
A controversial Christian evangelist originally from Turkey who converted to the religion when she immigrated to the United Kingdom, Tash has nearly 700,000 YouTube subscribers and serves as director for the Defend Christ Critique Islam (DCCI) Ministries, which “seeks to preach the Gospel to Muslims using apologetics and polemics.”
The Metropolitan Police arrested Tash in June 2022 while she was preparing to speak at the crowded Speakers’ Corner. A copy of the Quran with holes in it, which Tash often used as a visual aid while preaching, was stolen while she was setting up.
Hatun Tash, an ex-Muslim turned Christian, was attacked with a knife at Speakers' Corner on Sunday, while wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt. Her attacker is still at large days later. This is footage from Hatun's interview with @GBNEWS, which I am proud to have helped commission. pic.twitter.com/hQUIlZFOvY
— Max (@MaxE2review) July 30, 2021
Her Christian friends accompanying her called the police to report the incident, but officers tried to draw Tash away from the growing crowd. The preacher refused to move from where she was, prompting Met police officers to hold and frog-march her to waiting police vans.
Tash was arrested for “criminal damage” for wearing a Charlie Hebdo t-shirt, which depicted the Prophet Muhammad. She was strip-searched when they arrived at the Charing Cross Police Station; her glasses were removed, deprived of sleep, and interrogated at 4 AM. She was then released at 9 AM, after 15 hours in custody, and told no further action would be done. Tashh did not receive any assistance in retrieving her belongings left at the Speakers’ Corner.
Tash’s lawyers argued that the Met’s actions violated her human rights under Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). They also argued that her rights under Article 3 of the same convention were also breached when she was strip-searched at Charing Cross Police Station.
She deserves it! Don’t disrespect someone else’s religion.
— raya (@raya56440517) July 25, 2021
Her lawyers said that “even if arrest and detention is deemed lawful initially, it may subsequently become unlawful” and that “the burden is on the police to show that the detention was lawful minute by minute.”
They also mentioned a legal precedent that presented considerable protections afforded to individuals like Tash who seek to persuade others to change their religion. The Metropolitan Police agreed to settle the case and compensate Tash.
This would not be the first time Tash received monetary compensation from the police for being arrested for her activities. The Christian preacher received a £10,000 payout after she was arrested in May 2021. Pro-Palestinian protesters who incited her arrest were later recorded calling for “Jewish blood.”
This persecution of a Christian woman by Islamists is happening in Britain??
— Mr Smith (@MrSmith80669) January 17, 2024
Tash gave the settlement money to an organization supporting individuals who left the Islamic faith and faced persecution for doing so.
“I have been dealing with two-tiered policing for years. Muslim mobs at Speakers’ Corner are above the law and have been allowed by the police to do what they like to silence debate, increasingly by any means.” Tash said, referring to the impression that the police in the United Kingdom treat certain groups more leniently than others.
