{"id":21134,"date":"2023-09-08T08:37:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T08:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adf.uk\/?p=11731"},"modified":"2024-02-16T14:21:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T13:21:07","slug":"braverman-silent-prayer-not-unlawful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/news\/braverman-silent-prayer-not-unlawful","title":{"rendered":"BRAVERMAN: \u201cSilent prayer\u201d is \u201cnot unlawful\u201d says Home Sec while two UK \u201cthought criminals\u201d await justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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  • The Home Secretary has reminded officers that \u201cholding lawful opinions…is not a criminal offence\u201d amidst public criticism of police \u201cgoing woke\u201d<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Two citizens await justice, supported by ADF UK, after allegedly committing silent prayer \u201ccrimes\u201d near abortion facilities<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Censorial abortion \u201cbuffer zone\u201d legislation passed in Westminster, now pending in Scotland, backed by Yousaf this week <\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    LONDON (8th September 2023)<\/strong> – After months of controversy over freedom of thought in the UK, the Home Secretary has clarified that <\/span>\u201csilent prayer, within itself, is not unlawful\u201d<\/em> in a public letter to police forces across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The letter was released days before First Minister Humza Yousaf reiterated his support for a censorial “buffer zones” policy to be rolled out in Scotland in his Programme for Government<\/a> 2023-2024 launch on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

    The letter<\/a> further reminded officers that \u201cholding lawful opinions, even if those opinions may offend others, is not a criminal offence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    Within the past 12 months, three individuals have been prosecuted for praying silently in their heads near abortion facilities in England.<\/p>\n

    All stopped to pray, imperceptibly in their minds, within censorship zones or \u201cbuffer zones\u201d imposed by local councils in Birmingham and Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

    “The government\u2019s focus on restoring common sense to British policing is welcome and long overdue. Too often, of late, arrests have been justified by reference to subjective notions of offence rather than an objective application of the law. Politicised policing seriously threatens democracy, which relies on the right to freedom of speech and free and frank exchange of viewpoints to be effectively realised<\/em>,” commented Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK, the legal organisation supporting fundamental freedoms.<\/p>\n

    Censorial \u201cbuffer zones\u201d legislation passed in Westminster, pending in Holyrood<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Home Secretary’s remarks come after the UK government passed legislation<\/a> in March to introduce “buffer zones” across the country, which would ban “influence” outside all abortion facilities.<\/p>\n

    MPs failed to pass an amendment which would explicitly protect silent prayer and offers of charitable support for women who would like information about alternatives to abortion. Almost 1 in 5 women<\/a> in the UK say they feel pressured into having an abortion.<\/p>\n

    In his announcement of the 2023-2024 Programme for Government this week, Humza Yousaf reiterated that the Scottish Government would support Gillian MacKay MSP’s bill to introduce the same censorial “buffer zones” across Scotland.<\/p>\n

    Proposals suggest that there will similarly be no protections for charitable volunteers, nor for freedom of thought for those who would pray in their minds.<\/p>\n

    As a result, citizens “may be prosecuted for the thoughts held inside their minds on certain streets, as we have seen as a result of \u201cbuffer zones\u201d in England – bringing back the possibility of literal “thought trials” in Scotland akin to the blasphemy trials of long ago”,<\/em> remarked Lois McLatchie Miller, spokesperson for legal organisation ADF UK in Scotland.<\/p>\n

    Silent Prayer Arrests<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Isabel Vaughan-Spruce,<\/a> who was seen being arrested on a viral video last Winter after admitting to police that she \u201cmight be\u201d praying in her head, was criminally charged and tried in court in March. She was found \u201cnot guilty\u201d, but promptly re-arrested for thinking prayerful thoughts in the same location weeks later.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Arrested for praying, in her head<\/p>\n

    In England<\/p>\n

    In 2022
    pic.twitter.com\/HIx7TFEcye<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u2014 Winston Marshall (@MrWinMarshall) December 22, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n