“Litmus Test” Court Case Against Government Censorship of Musk’s “X” to be Heard Next Month, Australia

Billboard Chris' case will be heard in Australia in March

  • As Australia prepares for a national puberty blocker review, a court battle ensues regarding censorship of voices opposed to gender ideology 

  • “X” post highlighting unsuitability of transgender activist serving on WHO “panel of experts” currently geo-blocked in Australia 

  • Musk’s “X” and Canadian internet star “Billboard Chris” to bring case against Australian “e-Safety Commissioner” over censored post, March 31st  

Billboard Chris' case will be heard in Australia in March

MELBOURNE (13 February 2025) – As Australia faces a significant review into the use of so-called “gender-affirming care” on children, including through the administration of toxic “puberty blockers”, the government is preparing to face court for censoring critics of gender ideology and its harm on children. 

Chris Elston, known as Billboard Chris, a Canadian father of two, took to “X” (formerly Twitter) on 28th February 2024 to share a Daily Mail article titled “Kinky secrets of a UN trans expert REVEALED”.

"This is a serious issue with real world implications, and we need to be able to discuss it."."

- Chris Elston (a.k.a. "Billboard Chris")

The article, and accompanying tweet, criticised the suitability of Australian transgender activist Teddy Cook to be appointed to a World Health Organization “panel of experts” set to advise on global transgender policy. 

Cook complained about the post to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, who requested that “X” remove the content. The social media platform owned by free speech advocate Elon Musk initially refused, but following a subsequent formal removal order from the Commission, later geo-blocked the content in Australia. X has since also filed an appeal against the order at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Melbourne. 

Billboard Chris, with the support of ADF International and the Australian Human Rights Law Alliance, and alongside Elon Musk’s “X”, is appealing the violation of his right to peacefully share his convictions.  

The case will be heard in Melbourne on the week beginning March 31st. 

Members of the public are invited to join in supporting Chris’s legal case here: https://adfinternational.org/campaign/support-billboard-chris  

Chris Elston, a.k.a “Billboard Chris”, commented:

“No child has ever been born in the wrong body. As a father, I have grave concerns about the impact of harmful gender ideology on our children’s wellbeing. This reality is being increasingly recognised around the world, with government after government ordering a review into the use of toxic puberty blockers. This is a serious issue with real world implications for families across the globe and we need to be able to discuss it. 

“Children struggling with distress regarding their sex deserve better than ‘guidelines’ written by activists who only want to push them in one direction,” said Billboard Chris, engaging in a legal battle for free speech with support from ADF International. 

Ahead of the court date, Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for ADF International, who is serving as part of Billboard Chris’s legal team, said: 

“This significant legal showdown with Australian authorities represents a litmus test for free speech in a world seeing increasing push back against global censorship.  

“We’re used to hearing about governments silencing or punishing citizens for their ‘wrong’ speech in parts of the world with strict blasphemy laws – but now, from Australia, to Mexico, to across the EU, we see Western governments increasingly take authoritarian steps to shut down views they don’t like, often by branding them as “offensive”, “hateful”, or “misinformation.”  

“In a free society, ideas should be challenged with ideas, not state censorship. For years, Chris has been speaking an important truth to which many in Australia are now waking up – children cannot consent to puberty blockers.  

We’re proud to stand with Billboard Chris in defending the right to live and speak the truth.” 

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Pictured: Chris Elston (“Billboard Chris”); Elston with the ADF International team supporting his legal defence; Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for ADF International

UN Expert Welcomes United States Executive Order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” 

US announces no more males in female sports
  • Executive Order sends “clear message” that “the rights of women and girls to female-only spaces, including in sports, matter”, says UN Expert
  • Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women & Girls, previously warned that permitting males in women’s sports would be incompatible with US international human rights obligations
US announces no more males in female sports

GENEVA (12 February 2025) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, has welcomed the US government’s executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sport”. The executive order, issued on 5 February, reinforces the necessity of maintaining sex-based categories in sports to safeguard fairness, safety, and dignity for female athletes. 

“This decision reaffirms the importance of maintaining sex-based categories in sports, thereby safeguarding equal opportunities for women and girls,” Alsalem said.  

“Most notably, it mandates the preservation of all-female athletic opportunities and locker rooms, ensuring privacy and dignity for women and girls. This executive order sends a clear message that the rights of women and girls to female-only spaces, including in sports, matter,” Alsalem added. 

"This decision reaffirms the importance of maintaining sex-based categories in sports, thereby safeguarding equal opportunities for women and girls."

- Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women & Girls

“The US government’s clear stand for women and girls in sport carries tremendous global significance. The executive order commits to advocating for international rules and norms that protect a sex-based female sports category—a pivotal step for fairness and safety in female sports across the globe. Its emphasis on working with the United Nations and international sporting bodies has the potential to restore the right of women and girls to fair competition and safe sporting spaces. As the Special Rapporteur highlights, now the international community must cooperate on this critical human rights issue,” responded Giorgio Mazzoli, director of UN advocacy for ADF International. 

The executive order commits the administration to “promote, including at the United Nations, international rules and norms governing sports competition to protect a sex-based female sports category”. The Special Rapporteur welcomed the commitment to advocating for international rules at the UN to protect a sex-based female sports category. 

Alsalem previously warned the Biden administration that permitting males in women’s sports would be incompatible with US international human rights obligations. Her report highlighting how “huge numbers” of female athletes have lost opportunities to male athletes garnered viral attention last year. 

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Pictured:

(1,2) Female athletes supported by Alliance Defending Freedom;

(3,4) Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls

(5) Giorgio Mazzoli, Director of UN Advocacy

What is Liberty or Freedom? Andrew Wilson on how Christianity Can Answer That Question

In this video, teaching Pastor at King’s Church London and writer, Andrew Wilson, discusses the concept of freedom, something we all seem obsessed with but unable to define in clear terms.

He references everything from the dystopian visions of ‘Brave New World’, ‘1984’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ in discussing the tension and paradoxes that exist within our own understanding of what liberty truly is.

This, he argues, can only be resolved by an explicitly Christian vision.

Learn what ADF International is doing to defend everyone’s right to peacefully live out their faith.

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How Governments Are Silencing Free Speech

Governments around the world are ramping up censorship under the guise of fighting hate speech and misinformation. From the EU’s push for a region-wide hate speech law to the Digital Services Act’s regulation of online platforms, free speech is under threat.

In this video, ADF International’s Executive Director, Paul Coleman, unpacks the “Censorship Industrial Complex” and reveals the three main methods states are using to control information globally.
It’s a book about the experiences of Christian resistance, Christians resisting communism and what they had to suffer. Every single person featured, whether it was in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland or Russia all said that the ability to suffer seriously for your faith was the key thing needed to have nobody suffer.

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Christian Convert From Islam Freed After Imprisonment Over Facebook Posts

  • Contributor to Facebook group for Christian converts from Islam has been freed after over three years in detention 
  • Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, father of 5, withstood severe conditions – and period of hunger strike – before being released from prison this month, with support from ADF International

CAIRO (2 February 2025) – The father of 5 imprisoned for participating in a private Facebook group about converting to Christianity from Islam has been freed from detention after 3 years – but his case remains open.

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, originally from Yemen, was part of a Christian Facebook group that discussed Islamic theology and apologetics. In 2021, Abdo was arrested while he was living as a UNHCR-registered asylum seeker in Egypt. He had originally fled to Egypt because he faced death threats in Yemen after converting to Christianity.  

"It isn’t right that a government should tear me away from my family, keep me in these awful conditions, only because of the faith in which I peacefully choose to believe."

- Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo

He was moved between several detention centers throughout his three years of imprisonment, even undergoing a hunger strike within his final six months in an act of desperation. The husband and father of five suffered from poor health in relation to his heart, liver, and kidneys. 

“I endured many hardships in prison. It isn’t right that a government should tear me away from my family, keep me in these awful conditions, only because of the faith in which I peacefully choose to believe. 

“I thank everyone who prayed for me while I was in prison, cared about and followed up on my case, and shared the joy of my release from prison,” commented Abdo upon his release. 

Abdo’s son, Husam Baqi, added: 

“It is hideous that individuals are not allowed to believe and express their beliefs freely and are imprisoned or killed for their faith.”

"This case shows the extremity of unchecked government censorship in the online age."

- Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo

Abdo continues to fight his open legal battle with support from ADF International, who helped secure his release by submitting his case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. 

A Global Trend of Online Censorship

Commenting on the case, Kelsey Zorzi, Director of Advocacy for Religious Freedom for ADF International, said: 

“The arbitrary detention of this husband and father without a criminal trial, and the lack of an opportunity for him to defend himself against alleged offenses, constitutes a severe violation of human rights. 

“The peaceful expression of one’s religious convictions cannot be a crime – not in Egypt, nor anywhere else in the world. This case shows the extremity of unchecked government censorship in the online age. The world must take note.” 

Support from around the World

While Abdo sufered in prison, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, described his unfair treatment as “grotesque”. 

“The imprisonment of Yemeni refugee Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo at the hands of Egyptian authorities is a surreal example of censorial blasphemy policies in action,” she said.  

Previously a prominent atheist, Ali announced in November that she was converting to Christianity. Because of her outspoken rhetoric against the Muslim Brotherhood, she faces constant death threats.  

“This is the logical conclusion to a trend that empowers authorities to brutalize innocent people for free expression on social media. From China to Pakistan, from Russia to Syria, from the UK to Egypt—free speech must urgently be defended from our age’s resurgent Stalinism,” she added.

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PICTURED: Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo; Kelsey Zorzi, ADF International

Legal Brief to the Polish Parliament on the Hate Speech Bill

ADF International submitted a legal brief to the Polish Parliament challenging the far-reaching Polish Government Bill amending the Criminal Code (No. 876) on hate speech. We argued that the Bill and its enforcement of ‘hate speech’ does not comply with the international right to freedom of expression and extends beyond the universally established grounds of limitation to this right.should abandon the Bill.

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Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo: Egypt

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo: Egypt

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo: Egypt

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Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo now freed from prison for sharing his religious beliefs

UPDATE, FEB. 2, 2025:

The father of 5 imprisoned for participating in a private Facebook group about converting to Christianity from Islam has been freed from detention after 3 years – but his case remains open.

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, originally from Yemen, was part of a Christian Facebook group that discussed Islamic theology and apologetics. In 2021, Abdo was arrested while he was living as a UNHCR-registered asylum seeker in Egypt. He had originally fled to Egypt because he faced death threats in Yemen after converting to Christianity.

Topic | Religious Freedom

The Egyptian government is bound under the Constitution and international law to recognize the fundamental rights to religious freedom, free speech, and a fair trial. While these rights must be upheld and protected, Egyptian authorities continue to act with hostility toward Christians and other religious minorities. 

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo is a victim of these human rights injustices. Abdulbaqi was arrested for his involvement with a Facebook page that seeks to minister to Christians who have converted from Islam. The authorities arrested him on fabricated verbal charges of blasphemy for facilitating conversations online with converts, and held him in pre-trial detention for over 3 years, since 2021.  

ADF International has supported his legal defense and joined religious freedom leaders from the international community in demanding his release. Abdulbaqi was freed in January 2025 and has been safely reunited with his family. His case remains open before the State Security authorities, however, and ADF International will continue to support him with future legal developments. 

“The arbitrary detention of Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo without a criminal trial and the lack of an opportunity for him to defend himself against his alleged offenses constitutes a severe violation of his human rights. The peaceful expression of one’s religious convictions should not lead someone to be detained for years. No one should be imprisoned for supporting Christian converts, let alone be told that they are a national security risk for expressing their beliefs.”   

Elizabeth Francis, Legal Counsel for ADF International’s Global Religious Freedom team 

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo freed from prison

"The peaceful expression of one’s religious convictions should not lead someone to be detained for years. No one should be imprisoned for supporting Christian converts, let alone be told that they are a national security risk for expressing their beliefs.” 

- Elizabeth Francis, Legal Counsel for ADF International

Case Summary

Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo was arrested in 2021 for his involvement with a Facebook page that is dedicated to supporting people who have converted from Islam to Christianity. Authorities arrested him after discovering his affiliation with the page, spuriously linking his involvement with terrorism activities in order to justify his continued detention without trial.   

Over 3 years, Abdulbaqi was regularly moved around to different detention centers while awaiting his repeatedly postponed criminal trial. In addition to the very poor conditions that negatively impacted his physical health, he was regularly denied private visits from his family and legal counsel. This meant that essential supplies could not be delivered and he could not communicate with his lawyers in a secure environment.     

Abdulbaqi, a Christian convert who had fled to Egypt from Yemen when his life was in danger, was arrested in December 2021 for his connection to the Facebook page and his public television evangelism. He was subsequently transferred to various detention cells despite suffering from severe medical issues. He was only allowed occasional visits from his wife and children, including his son who was born while he was in detention.   

In August 2024, Abdulbaqi wrote a devastating letter to his family in which he vowed to strike in stages until he made the strike “complete,” including turning away healthcare treatment and, eventually, food. He is now living in safety in a third country. 

ADF International supported Abdulbaqi’s legal defense with his lawyers and advocated for his release by submitting information to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and other international religious freedom experts, arguing that he had been deprived of his right to religious freedom and a fair trial under international law.  

Thanks to the persistent international advocacy of ADF International and our partner organisations, Abdulbaqi was finally released and safely reunited with his family in January 2025. We continue to fight for justice in his case. 

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U.S. Reaffirms There Is No ‘Human Right’ to Abortion; Rejoins the Geneva Consensus Declaration

The US rejoins the Geneva Consensus Declaration under President Donald Trump.
  • US rejoins coalition of 40 countries standing against the creation of a “faux” international human right to abortion
  • Declaration affirms that “every human being has the inherent right to life”
The US rejoins the Geneva Consensus Declaration under President Donald Trump.

New York (27 January 2025) – A communication from the United States Mission to the United Nations has announced that the U.S. will rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a coalition of governments united around a pro-life policy stance. 

Adopted in October 2020, the coalition is comprised of now 40 signatory countries that uphold the right to life of the unborn and affirm national sovereignty with regard to pro-life laws and policies.

“Returning the U.S. to the coalition carries significant legal weight in that it prevents the emergence of a false ‘human right’ to abortion by customary international law."

- Elyssa Koren, International Human Rights Lawyer, ADF International

The U.S. was a founding member of the Geneva Consensus Declaration. The Biden Administration exited the coalition by Executive Order on 28 January 2021.

The Declaration affirms that, “every human being has the inherent right to life” and declares that there is no international obligation to promote or fund abortion. It further emphasizes holistic strategies for advancing women’s health and well-being, including maternal care, education, and economic development.

In addition, the Trump administration reinstated by Executive Order an expanded version of the Mexico City Policy, a mainstay of every Republican administration since 1984, which prohibits international non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortion from receiving federal funding.

“By rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration and reinstating the expanded Mexico City Policy, the United States is committing to advancing a pro-life stance on the world stage, making clear that there is no so-called international ‘human right’ to abortion. This is a massive shift away from the virulent abortion promotion that characterized the Biden administration’s international engagement, particularly in the developing world,” commented Elyssa Koren, an international human rights lawyer for ADF International.

“The United States is saying no to the imposition of abortion pressure on sovereign nations. Rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration is sure to have a profound effect on governments that are trying to uphold their pro-life laws in the midst of extreme pressure from the pro-abortion lobby. Further, returning the U.S. to the coalition carries significant legal weight in that it prevents the emergence of a false ‘human right’ to abortion by customary international law.

“Life is a human right, and how American taxpayer dollars are deployed should reflect that truth. The expanded Mexico City Policy does just that,” Koren further stated.

Valerie Huber, the architect of the Geneva Consensus Declaration from the Institute for Women’s Health, stated:

“I commend President Donald J. Trump for fulfilling his promise to rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD), a first-of-its-kind global coalition of nations dedicated to improving women’s health, strengthening families, affirming that abortion is not an international human right, and upholding the sovereign right of nations to govern free from ideological colonialism.”

Huber’s statement in full can be found here.

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PICTURED: Elyssa Koren, International Human Rights Lawyer, ADF International