ADF UK

BREAKING: Tribunal dates set for UK Christian teacher Anita Meston, who was fired for saying she was pro-life in response to a student’s question. Dates fixed for 2-4 February 2028. Meston is suing Biddick Academy in Sunderland for discrimination, with the support of Alliance Defending Freedom.

Lord Sumption is sadly mistaken on this. The state can’t dictate your thoughts, whether in silent prayer or otherwise, and must never criminally prosecute someone on this basis. Freedom of thought is an absolute right. Silent prayer, in itself, can never amount to harassment.

"Are you praying?" "I might be praying in my head, not out loud." Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was the first person to be criminally charged under ”buffer zone” legislation for silently praying. She has now pleaded NOT GUILTY to fresh charges presented during a preliminary hearing. 👇👇👇

🚨BREAKING: Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has pleaded "not guilty" to fresh charges for standing and silently praying inside a "buffer zone". The new charges were presented at an ongoing hearing, in which Isabel's legal team is arguing that her prosecution amounts to an "abuse of process" and breaches her human rights to freedom of thought and religion. The judge has also commented that “standing is not a crime" and "Courts are not here to pass judgment on people’s views.” UK censorship and thought policing must end. Read the full press release on our website 👇

‼️OVER 62,000 PEOPLE in the UK have been arrested for communications offences in the last five years. The latest report by Big Brother Watch demonstrates the alarming extent to which Britain’s authorities engage in policing speech, both online and on our streets. Under the guise of maintaining public order, protecting children, preventing “harm” and curbing foreign interference, current UK legislation is enabling state surveillance and censorship. Authorities currently have powers so broad they have been used to investigate a teenage girl who merely viewed a TikTok post. Burdensome compliance obligations have also caused the closure of small community internet forums, including one for cycling—which eventually changed ownership. With these powers, there is nothing to stop the state from controlling narratives on matters of public interest and silencing dissenting voices. The report highlights why vague and broadly worded speech laws are everyone’s problem: they lead to the criminalisation of lawful but disfavoured speech and allow the authorities to act inconsistently, through selective application of the law. We have also seen this two-tier approach in the criminalisation of our clients in the UK for silently praying outside abortion facilities and engaging in peaceful Christian street preaching. The present state of affairs undermines the rule of law, erodes trust in public authorities and leaves the public uncertain as to what they can and cannot say. Britain’s free speech crisis must be stopped. The law must change.

BREAKING: Christian Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen has been granted a UK visa, following her calling on Home Secretary @ShabanaMahmood to grant her entry to the country this week. This is a big win for free speech. HOWEVER, Räsänen was still blocked from speaking in person about free speech at an event in Northern Ireland yesterday, since she was granted her visa too late to attend. Räsänen was informed at 6.45pm last night that her visa application had been successful, and at 7.30pm she spoke remotely at the event, where she mentioned she was blocked from attending in person due to her ETA being cancelled in July. Following the cancellation of her ETA—most likely due to her “hate speech” conviction in Finland for peacefully expressing her views in a church booklet—Räsänen applied for a UK visa and wrote personally in July to the Home Secretary asking to be allowed into the UK. When she made the visa application, Räsänen was told by authorities that the application would be processed in three weeks. But it took more than four weeks for her visa to be granted, despite the fact that in the application she clearly stated the dates of both the event she planned to attend and her scheduled flights. Räsänen commented: “I never should have been blocked from attending this week’s religious freedom event in person. “But I am glad that my visa application has been approved, and that I am now free to enter the UK in the future, if the opportunity presents itself, to speak about free speech and my faith.” The Home Office had ample time to grant Räsänen a visa ahead of the event. Räsänen even made a last-minute public appeal this week for her censorship to be reversed and called on Shabana Mahmood to grant her entry to the UK—which led to significant public attention and a comment from the US State Department on the case. And yet, Räsänen’s visa was only granted shortly before her speaking engagement, leading to her being blocked from speaking in person. Räsänen is a former Finnish Interior Minister, and she currently serves on Finland's Foreign Affairs Committee and the country's delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She never should have been blocked from entering the UK. It is shocking that this happened and that she was convicted in Finland, because she peacefully expressed her views on marriage and human sexuality in a church booklet written over two decades ago. This is a clear sign of Europe’s deeply entrenched censorship crisis. Lutheran Bishop Juahana Pohjola and the Luther Foundation Finland were convicted alongside Räsänen in March in Finland’s Supreme Court, for publishing her booklet, in a split 3-2 decision, which sparked expressions of concern from around the world and came after over six years of criminal prosecution. The convictions followed unanimous acquittals in two lower court trials. All three are appealing their convictions to the European Court of Human Rights, where they will be represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, in a case that will set precedent for free speech and freedom of religion across Europe.

URGENT: Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen has been blocked from entering the UK to speak about free speech at an event this week in Northern Ireland, following her criminal “hate speech” conviction in Finland, for peacefully expressing her Christian views in a decades-old church booklet. Now, Räsänen and ADF are calling on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to make a last-minute intervention, to allow Räsänen to enter the UK and speak at the event in person on Friday. It is outrageous that a democratically elected politician in an allied European country has been blocked from entering the UK, for expressing her Christian beliefs. There is still time for this egregious state censorship to be reversed.

BREAKING: A judge yesterday dismissed charges against 75-year-old Scottish grandmother Rose Docherty, who was arrested for offering consensual conversation in a “buffer zone”. Watch Rose’s reaction to the free speech victory, outside court yesterday:

BREAKING: UK Christian pastor Dia Moodley, who was arrested for peacefully commenting on Islam and trans ideology while street preaching, to street preach again TODAY for first time since arrest, while criminal investigation continues. 🧵 nitter.gq/ADFIntl/status/2023366…

"Buffer zones don't ban prayer," Stella Creasy claims. Meanwhile, our client Isabel Vaughan-Spruce will face trial in Birmingham for doing nothing except silently praying in her head in a buffer zone. The national buffer zone legislation used to prosecute her—Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023—was introduced by Creasy and CPS guidance lists silent prayer as a potential offence. Creasy also voted against a specific amendment to POA 2023 which would have made it clear that silent prayer is not a crime. Isabel previously has been arrested twice for silently praying in a buffer zone imposed by a local PSPO (video of first arrest below). Our client Adam Smith-Connor was criminally convicted for silently praying in a local PSPO buffer zone in Bournemouth. The legislation used to prosecute him named prayer as a banned activity. Both Adam and Isabel were told directly by authorities that prayer was a crime and were interrogated on the nature of their prayers. Neither of these people engaged in behaviour that was harassing, obstructing or intimidating and they were not protesting either. They are peaceful Christians who merely silently prayed in a public space, as is their lawful right in a free country. The undeniable reality is that buffer zones are being used to ban silent prayer in what is the most egregious example of censorship in Britain today. They are used to censor not only speech, but also people’s most intimate thoughts, as the examples of Adam and Isabel show. This is real life thoughtcrime. If anyone supports this and pretends to care about freedom of religion, you simply should not believe them.