11 pastors, ministry leaders with Puerta de la Montaña now safe in Guatemala after being sentenced to millions in fines and 10+ years in prison on sham charges.
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BIRMINGHAM (10 February 2025) – New footage obtained by ADF UK shows a West Midlands Police officer demand charitable volunteer Isabel Vaughan-Spruce to leave a public area because of what she is known to believe – despite her simply standing alone, praying silently, without undertaking any actions.
The footage shows the police officer explain that he believes Isabel’s “mere presence” may constitute “harassment, alarm and distress”, given that she is known to have pro-life beliefs and belong to a pro-life organisation. He thus concluded that she was breaching the rules of the “buffer zone” – an area within 150m of an abortion facility.
However, the buffer zone legislation does not single out individuals to ban from the area for their beliefs, but rather prohibits behaviours amounting to “intimidation”, “harassment”, or “influencing a person’s decision to access” an abortion facility.
With support from ADF UK, Vaughan-Spruce has written to police to ask for clarification that a person’s mere presence does not amount to a criminal offence.
The incident took place despite West Midlands Police previously issuing an apology and a payout of £13,000 for breaching Vaughan-Spruce’s human rights on two prior occasions where they arrested her for praying silently in the same “buffer zone”.
"[The officer] believes that just because I hold pro-life beliefs, I am automatically a criminal in certain public areas.This isn’t right.”
Vaughan-Spruce, who has been a crisis pregnancy volunteer for two decades and has prayed nearby the abortion facility on a weekly basis throughout that time, was tried for breaching a buffer zone by praying silently in her mind at Birmingham Magistrates Court in February 2023, and was found innocent.
CPS Guidance from October 2024 stipulates that silent prayer is “not necessarily” a crime in an abortion “buffer zone”. The guidance further states that any actions must be “overt” to meet the threshold of criminality.
Commenting on the exchange, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce said:
“It has been made clear time and time again through the verdict of Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, through the concession and payout from the police, through the words of the former Home Secretary and through CPS Guidance – you cannot break the law by simply existing in a buffer zone, holding thoughts and beliefs in your mind.
“Every person has a right to stand in a public space and think what they want. The police officer told me that my “mere presence” was offensive – that’s nothing short of viewpoint discrimination. He believes that just because I hold pro-life beliefs, I am automatically a criminal in certain public areas. This isn’t right.”
ADF UK legal counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole said:
“Nobody should be criminalised for publicly holding lawful views or associating with any lawful cause. The idea that the state can interrogate citizens and instruct them to leave certain public areas based on their pro-life beliefs and associations is profoundly chilling and concrete evidence, if ever we needed more, of viewpoint-based two-tier policing.
“If Isabel can be treated this way then what does this mean for all Christians holding to biblical truths? This isn’t 1984; it’s 2025 – police must respect the fundamental rights of freedom of speech, thought and association.”
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Pictured: Vaughan-Spruce’s first arrest; Vaughan-Spruce’s second arrest; headshots, Isabel Vaughan=Spruce; Vaughan-Spruce with ADF UK Legal Counsel, Jeremiah Igunnubole
BOURNEMOUTH (6 February 2025) – A retired medical scientist from Bournemouth will face trial on 6th March following charges relating to her charitable work supporting women in crisis pregnancies.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 63, held a sign reading “here to talk, if you want to” near an abortion facility in Bournemouth. Several individuals approached her to take up her offer of a conversation about matters going on in their lives.
“There’s nothing wrong with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the street. I shouldn’t be treated like a criminal just for this.”
Local authorities confronted Tossici-Bolt, alleging that she had breached a local abortion “buffer zone”, which bans “expression of approval or disapproval of abortion”. They issued a Fixed Penalty Notice, which Tossici-Bolt refused to pay, on the grounds that she did not breach the terms of the PSPO, and had the right, protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, to offer consensual conversations.
Tossici-Bolt will face trial at Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court on 6th March 2025. ADF UK are supporting her legal defence.
“There’s nothing wrong with offering help. There’s nothing wrong with two adults engaging in a consensual conversation on the street. I shouldn’t be treated like a criminal just for this,” said Livia Tossici-Bolt, whose legal defence is being supported by ADF UK.
In 2023, the UK government passed legislation in the Public Order Act to enforce censorial buffer zones around all abortion facilities, banning any form of “influence of a person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services.”
CPS Guidance released alongside the national legislation, which came into force in October 2024, explains that silent prayer is “not necessarily” a crime; rather, that criminal actions must be “overt” to meet the threshold.
Yet, in November 2024, Christian army veteran Adam Smith-Connor was convicted for praying silently in his mind for a few minutes on public space across the road from the abortion facility in Bournemouth, where a local “buffer zone” had been enacted via a “Public Spaces Protection Order”. With support from ADF UK, he is appealing his conviction in July.
As a result of the arrests over silent prayer, Christians have raised concern about “two-tier policing” taking place in the UK – something which the Home Office have dismissed in a leaked memo as a “right-wing extremist narrative”.
This month, it was reported that shoplifting crimes have increased by 25% in the past year. Last year, it emerged that knife crime in the UK has increased by 80% in the past decade. Volunteers have questioned the focus of resources on clamping down on silent prayer, rather than tangible crimes.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was seen being arrested for her silent prayers in a viral video in 2022, said:
“The Home Office’s abrasive and outright dismissal of widespread concerns about “two-tier policing” runs contrary to the experience of countless everyday British people.
I have been arrested multiple times, faced an intrusive police investigation, and dragged into court – simply for standing silently on a public street nearby an abortion clinic, praying, imperceptibly, in the privacy of my mind. Meanwhile, how many true criminals roam the streets, unchecked? How many of the perpetrators of the grooming gangs were left unaccountable for their violent and despicable actions towards children?”
Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK, said:
“Under far-reaching and vaguely-written rules, we have seen volunteers like Livia criminalised simply for offering conversations to those in need; and others dragged through courts for praying, even silently, in their minds.
The principle of freedom of thought and speech must be defended both within and outside “buffer zones”. It’s unthinkable that as real crime is mounting, policing time and resources are being expended on peaceful individuals like Livia who simply and peacefully offered conversations. No genuinely free and democratic society criminalises it citizens for exercising their right to freedom of speech, especially when such speech is nothing more than a harmless and consensual conversation,” commented Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, who are supporting Tossici-Bolt’s legal defence.
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PICTURED: Liviai Tossici-Bolt; ADF UK Legal Counsel Jeremiah Igunnubole
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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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.
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."
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."
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.
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.”
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
X-owner Elon Musk accused of being in ‘conspiracy’ with ‘populists and the far right’ during debate at the Council of Europe
UK Labour MP called out by MEP for criticising Mr Musk and Meta’s free speech policy and for voicing ‘support for Britain’s notoriously heavy-handed prosecutions for social media posts during last summer’s riots’
STRASBOURG (1 February 2025) – European politicians on Thursday called for social media censorship to “protect democracy” and criticised X and Meta’s free speech policies during a debate at the Council of Europe.
Politicians at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called for censorship, in the form of tackling so-called “misinformation”, “disinformation” and “hate speech” online, and voted in favour of a report on social media content regulation.
This follows the European Union last week doubling down on online censorship through the Digital Services Act (DSA), with the same justification of “protecting democracy”.
During Thursday night’s debate, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were singled out as threatening democracy with their free speech policies.
Belgian politician Christophe Lacroix said: “Why is Elon Musk in the US government?… There is a conspiracy, in any case a conjunction of interests between populists and the far right and the billionaire owners of social networks to effectively interfere in the electoral process.”
UK Labour MP Cat Eccles said Mr Musk’s “rise of influence” was “something we should all be worried about” and criticised Meta for its new free speech policy, which she characterised as “abandoning fact checking”.
She also indicated support for the notoriously heavy-handed prosecutions for social media posts during Britain’s riots last summer, saying: “While we must value freedom of expression, we must remember that it does not protect individuals from the consequences of their actions. In the UK we saw this play out recently with the horrendous Southport murders last summer and subsequent riots, with people arrested and charged for inciting hatred and violence on all sides.”
French politician Sandra Regol said free speech online posed a threat to “our democracy” and “diversity”.
She said: “We’ve heard a lot about freedom of expression. It’s supposed to be the guarantor of this diversity, it’s supposed to be the guarantor of our democracies and, in a crazy, absolute reversal of values, it’s now the tool that’s destroying this diversity.”
Three amendments were proposed in Thursday’s debate to preserve freedom of expression and they were all rejected.
But an amendment to the report calling for collaborating “with journalists and fact-checking organisations to effectively combat disinformation” was adopted by two-thirds majority.
This puts Europe further at odds with the US regarding free speech, after President Trump last week signed an executive order to end federal government censorship.
Luxembourg MEP Fernand Kartheiser said:
“Free speech is under serious threat in Europe. It was deeply concerning to see politicians at the Council of Europe calling for online censorship in the name of ‘protecting democracy’.
“Democracy is impossible without free speech, but for some reason, too many politicians, including from the UK, can’t seem to grasp this.
“Labour MP Cat Eccles voiced support for Britain’s notoriously heavy-handed prosecutions for social media posts during last summer’s riots in the country.
“European politicians should consider how their support for censorship and their attacks on the free speech policies of American citizens Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s platforms will affect our relationship with our vital ally the United States.
“The US has made its commitment to free speech clear and US Vice President JD Vance already threatened last year to withdraw US support for NATO if the EU censors X.
“For the sake of truly preserving European democracy and also good relations with America, all attempts to impose censorship in Europe, including through the Digital Services Act, must end.”
Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, a global organisation dedicated to protecting fundamental freedoms, including at the European institutions, stated:
“We are living in a new bipolar order of speech. On the one hand, Europe is doubling down on censorship, while the US is recommitting to its free speech heritage.
“This will usher in an unprecedented era of tension within the West itself over this most basic of human rights, and it is the responsibility of all who value freedom to side with the protection of free speech.”
EU doubled down on social media censorship with DSA last week
Last week, the European Commissioner in charge of enforcing the DSA, Henna Virkkunen, announced a number of measures to further crack down on speech, including doubling the number of staff working on enforcement from 100 to 200 by the end of 2025.
The Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into full force in February 2024, is an EU regulation that aims to tackle “misinformation”, “disinformation”, and “hate speech” online.
By requiring the removal of so-called “illegal content” on social media platforms, it censors free speech both within and outside the EU and could even affect the speech of US citizens online.
On the DSA, Mr Coleman commented:
“Last week, the European Commission made clear that it will be increasing its efforts to suppress speech, arguing that the Digital Services Act is needed to ‘protect democracy’ from so-called ‘misinformation’, ‘disinformation’ and ‘hate speech’ online.
“As we saw clearly from Thierry Breton’s letter to Elon Musk this summer, warning him not to breach the DSA ahead of his interview with Donald Trump, the DSA will be used to censor views disfavoured by those in power.
“The DSA poses a grave threat to the fundamental right to freedom of expression, guaranteed to every person under international law. It is not the place of any authority to impose a narrow view of acceptable speech on the rest of society.
“The effects of the DSA will not be confined to Europe. There are legitimate worries that the DSA could censor the speech of citizens across the world, as social media companies could regulate their content globally to comply with European standards.”
Other measures announced by Commissioner Virkkunen included making a previously voluntary code of conduct on “illegal hate speech online” legally binding and advancing a framework called the European Democracy Shield (EDS).
The EDS uses fact checkers and NGOs to combat so-called “foreign information manipulation, interference, and disinformation”.
Under the DSA, social media platforms can face massive fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for failing to remove so-called “misinformation”, “disinformation” and “hate speech”.
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