When the Prayers Became Crimes: America's Stand for Free Speech in the UK
U.S. State Department officials, led by the Trump administration, quietly intervene in Britain’s censorship of silent prayer—marking a transatlantic pivot in the global fight for freedom of expression
Rose Doherty, centre, became the first person to be charged under a law which creates buffer zones outside hospitals and abortion clinics Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
On May 24th, The Telegraph broke a remarkable and sobering story: five U.S. State Department officials, operating under the Trump administration’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), traveled to the United Kingdom in March on an urgent diplomatic mission. But their purpose was not military, financial, or even conventionally political.
Instead, these diplomats came to investigate something far more elemental: the criminalization of silent prayer on British soil.
The delegation, led by senior adviser Samuel Samson, met with multiple UK citizens who had recently been arrested or prosecuted for standing quietly outside abortion clinics and praying in silence. According to The Telegraph, the American officials spent days interviewing the targeted individuals—many of them elderly or religious figures—and confronted UK officials, including representatives of Ofcom, over the alarming implications of Britain’s Online Safety Act and so-called “buffer zone” protest laws.
The five UK citizens who were formally interviewed included Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, Rose Docherty, Adam Smith-Connor, Livia Tossici-Bolt, and Father Sean Gough—a Catholic priest. Each had been either arrested or prosecuted under new laws that prohibit any form of protest, including silent prayer or “consensual conversation,” within 150 meters of an abortion clinic. In some cases, these individuals were convicted not for speech, but for what they were thinking.
In February, 74-year-old grandmother Rose Docherty became the first person arrested under Scotland’s buffer zone law while standing quietly outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. She told the visiting U.S. delegation:
“I didn’t break the law. I didn’t influence. I didn’t harass. I didn’t intimidate. And yet, I was arrested just for standing there, peacefully. This can’t be just.”
Similarly, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested outside an abortion facility in Birmingham in 2023—for praying silently with no placard, no speaking, no leaflets. She was not charged, but the arrest itself became symbolic of the broader erosion of religious and expressive rights in the UK. Her case was condemned by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
These stories, as told directly to the U.S. State Department, have catalyzed what may become a turning point in U.S.-UK relations. According to The Telegraph, sources close to U.S. trade talks warned that such cases are no longer viewed as domestic legal matters, but as international human rights concerns—especially when they target peaceful forms of spiritual expression.
One senior U.S. trade source reportedly warned: “No free trade without free speech.”
From Global Censor to Defender of Rights?
This moment is deeply personal for many of us who have spent years warning that censorship in the name of “safety” or “public health” is not a slippery slope—it’s a well-oiled slide into tyranny.
I, along with some of my closest loved ones, were targeted by UK-linked organizations, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which pressured American lawmakers and tech companies to suppress health freedom advocates, particularly during the COVID-19 era.
The very same UK that once sought to criminalize the expression of dissenting views within our borders is now being challenged by the U.S. government for its own internal repression. There is a certain historical irony—and a larger spiritual reckoning—at play here.
A Modern 1776 Moment
As I wrote in The Kill Musk’s Twitter Directive, Britain has played an outsized role in the attempt to reimpose seditious libel doctrines on American soil through its influence over Big Tech and government agencies. This is not a conspiracy—it’s a matter of public record. The UK, working with international NGOs, was instrumental in constructing the transatlantic “misinformation” suppression architecture that has now begun to fracture.
Read: A Modern 1776 Stand Against a Global Plot for Censorship
The Trump administration’s response—sending American diplomats to confront British authorities on their own turf—is not merely symbolic. It’s a direct reversal of the prior unipolar censorship order that presumed Western liberal democracies would self-regulate toward freedom.
From Watchers to Watched: A Global Inversion of Power
In what can only be described as a profound reversal, the very governments and organizations that once orchestrated and justified the censorship of dissident voices are now under scrutiny themselves.
As commentator Jim Ferguson put it, this is not conventional diplomacy—it is a “free speech rescue mission.”
⚠️ Washington is closely monitoring Britain’s clampdown on peaceful dissent.
That’s a line worth repeating. Because not long ago, it was Washington itself—under the influence of UK-linked operatives—monitoring, blacklisting, and censoring those who spoke out about health freedom, bodily sovereignty, or spiritual conviction.
Today, it’s the UK authorities who are being called to account by American diplomats for suppressing not threats or incitement, but silent prayer.
The watchers—the architects of the digital inquisition—are now being watched.
Even more significantly, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF UK) has direct lines to U.S. officials and is helping coordinate legal defenses. This reflects an emerging transnational alliance of conscience—one that refuses to let peaceful resistance be rebranded as criminality.
This is not just a diplomatic detour. It’s a signal.
“Your silencing of peaceful speech won’t go unnoticed.”
—Jim Ferguson
This is a shift in the energy field of the global freedom movement. We are no longer pleading for recognition—we are witnessing a structural realignment. The persecutors are now being investigated. The balance of power is tilting.
And for those who have stood in silence for truth, that silence is finally echoing back with force.
JD Vance and the Moral Clarity of This Moment
In April, U.S. Vice President JD Vance publicly called out the United Kingdom’s record on free speech, naming Adam Smith-Connor—convicted for praying silently near a clinic in Bournemouth—as evidence that liberty in Britain is “in retreat.”
That moment was not lost on those of us who have tracked these developments for years. I covered it in detail in my piece, Free Speech Strikes Back:
Vance’s remarks affirmed what many have long feared: the United Kingdom is no longer the free society it claims to be, and it is now falling behind even the most embattled corners of American politics in the defense of fundamental rights.
The Crossroads: Trade or Tyranny?
With trade negotiations looming and global trust in decline, the U.S. has drawn a red line: countries that criminalize conscience cannot expect unqualified economic partnership.
The world is watching.
And for those of us who were once labeled “dissenters,” “deniers,” or “dangerous”—this moment is not vindication. It is a sober reminder that the battle for sovereignty, dignity, and sacred expression has only just begun.
A Personal Note on Transatlantic Lawfare
This moment is not abstract to me. As some of you know, my own journey through the shadows of transatlantic censorship and lawfare has been long, costly, and largely unspoken—until now.
In a detailed exposé published on May 5th, I finally broke my silence:
🔍 Four Years of Lawfare and Black Ops: The Silence Ends Here
What I experienced was not merely targeted harassment. It was part of a coordinated effort to erase voices like mine from public discourse—driven in part by UK-based actors using American levers of power. The very same forces now being challenged by the Trump administration.
If you’ve read this far and feel moved to stand with me, I invite you to support my ongoing legal defense fund. Your contributions help keep the truth alive—not just for me, but for the many others still navigating this terrain in silence.
Without this community, I likely would not be standing. Because of this community, I know that victory is already seeded into the field.
With gratitude and resolve,
— Sayer Ji
The UK and Canada are falling into lockstep with the censorship agenda. The Online Harms Act in Canada was sidelined when Trudeau resigned but now appears to be making a comeback. Canada never really had a revolution like the US and still operates like a colony of the UK in some ways. Now with Carney apparently elected the WEF agenda is progressing.
The freezing of bank accounts, the criminalization of free speech, the control of the media using taxpayer money, the net zero madness and the erosion of freedom is happening more and more.
Canada has nobody like Kennedy to set things right, and it seems as if the country is headed for collapse, financially and otherwise. A decade of ideological WEF policies under Trudeau has undermined what used to be a great country.
IMHO, FREE SPEECH everywhere and every country!