EGN NEWS DESK
The trial into a military veteran’s silent prayer close to an abortion clinic has begun at Poole Magistrates’ Court.
Adam Smith-Connor was issued with a hard and fast penalty discover on 13 December 2022 after allegedly being in breach of an abortion clinic “buffer zone” in Bournemouth the earlier month.
He advised officers he had been “praying for his deceased son” who was aborted by an ex-girlfriend, a choice he now regrets.
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council filed expenses in opposition to Smith-Connor for praying throughout the boundaries of the buffer zone. The buffer zone bans a lot of pro-life actions together with prayer and provides of assist to ladies experiencing disaster pregnancies.
The three-day trial is because of conclude on Thursday.
Speaking forward of the listening to, Smith-Connor stated that opinions or beliefs held in individuals’s minds shouldn’t be against the law.
“Nobody needs to be prosecuted for silent prayer. It is unfathomable that in an apparently free society, I’m being criminally charged on the premise of my silent ideas, within the privateness of my very own thoughts. It’s not completely different than being tried for a thoughtcrime,” he stated.
“I served for 20 years within the military reserves, together with a tour in Afghanistan, to guard the elemental freedoms that this nation is constructed upon. I proceed that spirit of service as a well being care skilled and church volunteer. It troubles me significantly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thoughtcrimes at the moment are being prosecuted within the UK.”
Smith-Connor is being supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK), which stated the case revealed confusion amongst Britain’s law enforcement officials about the place the legislation stands on silent prayer.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, authorized counsel for ADF UK, stated, “In numerous different circumstances, the police and the courts have made it clear that silent prayer isn’t a prison act. And but, BCP Council, which has already conceded that presence isn’t in itself an offence, has launched a rights-restricting censorship zone, which they now argue extends to a ban on silent prayer.
“In allowing the prosecution of silent prayer, we’re crusing into harmful waters concerning human rights protections within the UK. Censorship zones are inherently unsuitable and engender unhelpful authorized confusion concerning the fitting to free thought. Both home and worldwide legislation have lengthy established freedom of thought as an absolute proper that should not ever be interfered with by the state.
“The Telegraph just lately reported that Ministers are contemplating naming ‘silent prayer’ as against the law of their ‘buffer zones’ steerage – to take action wouldn’t solely be a authorized error, it may open up the floodgates to human rights violations much like these skilled by Adam Smith-Connor.”
