{"id":8511,"date":"2022-04-13T06:40:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T06:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adf.uk\/?p=8511"},"modified":"2024-01-26T13:29:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T12:29:35","slug":"prayer-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/news\/prayer-walk","title":{"rendered":"Grandmother awaits justice after being arrested for prayer walk during lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>76-year-old Rosa Lalor was arrested and fined during 2021 lockdown for being outside without a \u201creasonable excuse\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Lalor, who was masked, walking alone and praying silently as part of her daily exercise, is challenging the charge with support of ADF UK <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>LIVERPOOL<\/strong> (13 April 2022) &#8211; Can a silent, peaceful prayer be a criminal act? This is the question facing the court as it considers the penalty that Rosa Lalor received when on a prayer walk during lockdown in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never thought that in a democratic country like the UK I would be arrested for a simple and solitary prayer walk. When I was walking outdoors, I was praying in the privacy of my own mind. What kind of society are we, when people can be arrested simply for peacefully manifesting their faith in public?&#8221;, said Rosa Lalor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have always respected the law and never wished to be involved in legal action, but having been fined simply for praying whilst walking, I know this is an important challenge to take forward.\u00a0With support from ADF UK, I\u2019m taking a stand to protect fundamental freedoms for all people,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n<p>Severe court delays have prevented the case from moving forward after Lalor pled \u201cnot guilty\u201d to the charge. This leaves the charge hanging over her throughout the Easter season. Members of the public are invited to leave a message of support for Lalor <a href=\"https:\/\/adf.uk\/project\/prayer-matters\/\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Penalty for a Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rosa Lalor walked and prayed almost every day during the 2021 lockdown as part of the daily exercise permitted by the regulations at the time. She walked near an abortion facility, as she prayed about the issue that was on her mind. She was masked, socially-distanced, alone. She prayed silently, wearing headphones.<\/p>\n<p>When approached by a police officer on 24 February 2021, Lalor was questioned as to why she was outdoors. Lalor answered that she was \u201cwalking and praying\u201d. The officer responded that Lalor wasn\u2019t praying in a house of worship, and that she did not have a \u201creasonable excuse\u201d to be outdoors at that time. The officer claimed that Lalor was there to \u201cprotest\u201d. She was arrested, detained in a police car, charged and fined \u00a3200 under temporary coronavirus measures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe right to express faith in a public space, including silent prayer &#8211; is a fundamental right protected in both domestic and international law. Whether under coronavirus regulations or any other law, it is the duty of police to uphold, rather than erode, the rights and freedoms of women like Rosa. Such arrests subject otherwise law-abiding individuals to distressing and drawn-out criminal proceedings, leading to a chilling effect on freedom of expression and religion generally,\u201d said Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK, which is supporting Rosa\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the repeated wrongful arrests of street preachers to the denial of last rites for Sir David Amess, police officers have repeatedly shown that they are failing to strike the balance between tackling genuine criminal behaviour and upholding fundamental rights. Rosa\u2019s story highlights the need for better training within the police force on how to strike such a balance. We are pleased to stand alongside her in seeking justice,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can a silent, peaceful prayer be a criminal act? This is the question facing the court as it considers the penalty that Rosa Lalor received when on a prayer walk during lockdown in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[736],"tags":[899,947,898],"class_list":["post-8511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-free-speech-en-gb","tag-rosa-en-gb","tag-uk-en-gb"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grandmother awaits justice after being arrested for prayer walk during lockdown - ADF International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"76-year-old Rosa Lalor was arrested and fined during 2020 lockdown for being outside without a \u201creasonable excuse\u201d.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/news\/prayer-walk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Easter: Grandmother awaits justice after being arrested for prayer walk during lockdown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can a silent, peaceful prayer be a criminal act? 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