Although a 76-year-old English grandmother who had been fined for praying next to an abortion clinic has been successful in having her financial penalty reversed, human rights activists are nevertheless concerned that the first fine signals a troubling trend in legal enforcement with regard to particular beliefs.
Rosa Lalor of Liverpool, United Kingdom, was given the fine in February 2021, during the nation’s lockdown, after a police officer asked her why she was outside and she said she was “walking and praying.”
She was arrested, detained, and fined when the officer involved claimed that this was not “a reasonable excuse” and that she was actually protesting.
Merseyside Police has now acknowledged that Lalor should not have been detained because she was completely within her rights to silently pray while out walking and that her actions were reasonable and acceptable under Covid-19 regulations as a result of a legal challenge, supported by the organisation ADF International.
Rosa’s legal representative, Jeremiah Igunnubole, stated in a statement on July 18 that the contentious incident was part of a troubling pattern where people were punished for having controversial beliefs.
He said: “We’re thrilled to celebrate a victory for Rosa today, but it is deeply regrettable that this law-abiding woman was subjected to distressing, drawn-out criminal proceedings in the first place, no doubt due to her pro-life stance. This follows a worrying trend in law enforcement where individuals are routinely arrested simply because their views are considered to be controversial or offensive.”
Then, Mr. Igunnubole demanded that police officers throughout the nation be up-skilled “to ensure that they have a proper grasp of the right to freedom of expression and religion as it relates to public order.”
The comments are relevant to an event that occurred in February of last year, when Merseyside Police were compelled to apologise for falsely asserting that “being offensive is an offence” as part of a billboard campaign to urge people to report hate crime. Later, the police department made it clear that while hate crimes are illegal, “being offensive is not in itself an offence.”
In a statement delivered on July 18, Rosa Lalor said: “I’m delighted that the prosecution has finally dropped this charge after a long and exhausting battle for justice. I took this challenge forward with support from ADF UK to show that we do all have a fundamental right to pray – not least pray as I did, in the privacy of my own mind.”