Finnish politician blocked from entering U.K. over Biblical beliefs

Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen was blocked from entering the United Kingdom and speaking at a religious liberty conference in Northern Ireland on Wednesday and Friday. Authorities refused to grant her a travel pass after the Finnish Supreme Court in March found her guilty of hate speech. The court ruled that a 20-year-old pamphlet she co-authored covering Biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality was insulting to homosexuals as a group. Räsänen appealed her conviction to the European Court of Human Rights in July.

On Saturday, Kristen Waggoner, the president of Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the politician, announced that Räsänen had been granted a UK visa, but that it came too late for her to attend the conference. Waggoner noted that the  visa came only after Räsänen publicly called on British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to grant her the visa. Access to free speech should not require a public pressure campaign or depend on the whims of an administrative state, Waggoner insisted.

The U.K.’s decision has upheld the heavy-handed censorship of other countries, Waggoner wrote in a previous post Tuesday. The Finnish Supreme Court’s ruling was outrageous and has been criticized by human rights experts, religious rights advocates, and U.S. lawmakers, she added.

What did Räsänen plan to say at the event? Räsänen, who was trained as a medical doctor, published a video of the speech she had hoped to deliver in person Wednesday. The speech shared highlights from her seven-year legal battle and three criminal trials. She emphasized the gospel’s message that all are sinners who need to be saved by the cross. Räsänen added that she was encouraged at how the publicity of the story has globally shared the gospel. It has not been in vain to defend the Word of God, she said.

Then, in a post Thursday, Räsänen asked viewers if it would really have been dangerous for her to deliver this message in-person.

Dig deeper: Read my report on Räsänen’s appeal asking Europe’s top human rights court to overturn her conviction from the Finnish Supreme Court.