Finnish Christian politician Päivi Räsänen is asking Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to intervene after being barred from entering the United Kingdom.
Räsänen was convicted of "hate speech" in her own country after a seven-year legal battle. The Supreme Court of Finland convicted Räsänen, a member of parliament since 1995 and former interior minister, in a narrow 3-2 decision on March 26.
The conviction centred on statements expressing biblical views on marriage and human sexuality in a 2004 booklet titled “Male and Female He Created Them.” The court fined Räsänen 1,800 euros ($1,950) and ordered her to cover her legal costs, overturning two previous acquittals by lower courts.
Räsänen has filed an appeal against her conviction with the European Court of Human Rights.
Räsänen was due to speak in Northern Ireland about freedom of speech at a conference on religious freedom. She was granted Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) in June, however this was rescinded in July. The Home Office has not commented on why it rescinded Räsänen’s ETA.
She has appealed to British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to intervene and grant her a visa allowing her to attend the conference in person as planned.
Räsänen said, “It is shocking that the UK has blocked me, a democratically elected politician in an allied European state, from entering the country. I was convicted of ‘hate speech’ in Finland for peacefully expressing my Christian views. This was an egregious case of state censorship, noted with concern by observers around the world, including the US State Department and the US Religious Liberty Commission.
“Even though this unjust conviction is currently on appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, the UK has likely refused me travel authorisation on this basis. In doing so, the UK is punishing me for exercising my fundamental human rights.
“I call on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to urgently intervene to allow me to enter the UK to speak at this event. There is still time for this censorship to be reversed.”
