A woman in the United Kingdom has won her case to have charges against her dismissed after she was arrested while praying outside an abortion clinic during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Rosa Lalor, a 76-year-old grandmother from Liverpool, England, was arrested by the police on Feb. 24, 2021, and fined 200 pounds (roughly $240) under a temporary COVID-19 regulatory measure, with police arguing she did not have a “reasonable excuse” to be outdoors. As of Monday, her penalties have been dismissed, according to ADF International.
“I’m delighted that the prosecution has finally dropped this charge after a long and exhausting battle for justice,” Lolar said. “I took this challenge forward with support from ADF U.K. 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.”
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Lalor had been taking a walk on the morning of her prayer and was wearing a mask and social distancing at the time of her arrest.
Merseyside police have accepted in dropping its charges that Lalor was acting within her rights to pray while walking in a public space. Article 9 of the European Court of Human Rights states that everyone has a right to manifest their freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, “either alone or in community with others and in public or private,” according to ADF U.K.
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Jeremiah Igunnubole, a legal counsel for ADF U.K., which supported Lalor’s case, praised the police’s decision to drop its charges, stating that a person expressing one’s faith is “a fundamental right.”
“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,” Igunnubole said. “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.”
