A Finnish parliamentarian and a Lutheran Bishop have both been blocked from entering the UK [1] following a disputed conviction for “hate speech” in Finland over the content of a Christian pamphlet.
Longstanding Christian politician Päivi Räsänen was due to give a talk in person this week about freedom of speech, at a religious freedom conference.
However, in July, Räsänen was informed that her Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to the UK had been cancelled.
This followed the former Interior Minister’s controversial conviction for “hate speech” in March this year.
Courts ruled a booklet which she wrote for her church in 2004, expressing her Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality, breached criminal law in its argument against same-sex relationships.
Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola, who published the booklet, was also convicted of hate speech and was likewise blocked from entering the UK.
They have both appealed their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
Räsänen expressed her shock that the UK blocked her, “a democratically elected politician in an allied European state, from entering the country”, describing her conviction as “unjust” and an “egregious case of state censorship” for “peacefully expressing her Christian views”.