POOLE, England: An anti-abortion activist, whose case has attracted the attention of the United States over free speech concerns, was found guilty on Friday of breaching an order which banned protest outside a clinic in southern England.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, 64, the leader of a branch of US Christian group ‘40 days for Life’, was prosecuted for breaching a “safe zone” in the immediate area around the abortion clinic in Bournemouth on two days in March 2023. She was holding a sign that read “Here to talk, if you want.”
Following a trial last month, Tossici-Bolt was on Friday convicted of breaching the order at Poole Magistrates’ Court, on the grounds the impact on those using the clinic outweighed her right to free speech under human rights laws.
The case comes amid growing accusations in the US of infringements on free speech in Britain. US Vice President JD Vance confronted Prime Minister Keir Starmer face to face at the White House on the issue, and said in February he feared free speech in Britain was “in retreat.”
Tossici-Bolt was taken to court after refusing to pay a fixed fine for breaching a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), brought in around the British Pregnancy Advisory Service clinic in 2022 in response to concerns that women who attended were being subjected to harassment and intimidation.
An intervention on Sunday by the Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor (DRL) department of the US State Department propelled the case to the front pages of UK newspapers, with suggestions it could have far-reaching diplomatic implications.
“We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression,” the DRL said on X.
Woman found guilty in UK abortion free speech case monitored by US
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Woman found guilty in UK abortion free speech case monitored by US
- Livia Tossici-Bolt was prosecuted for breaching a ‘safe zone’ in the immediate area around the abortion clinic in Bournemouth on two days in March 2023
Indonesia nursing home fire kills 16: official
JAKARTA: A fire at a nursing home on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi killed more than a dozen people, with three others injured, a local official said Monday.
Firefighters received the report of the blaze at 8:31 p.m. Sunday at a nursing home in the North Sulawesi provincial capital Manado, said the city’s fire and rescue agency chief Jimmy Rotinsulu.
“There were 16 deaths; three (people) had burn injuries,” he told AFP.
Many bodies of the victims were found inside their rooms, Jimmy said, adding that many of the elderly residents were likely resting in their rooms in the evening when the fire broke out.
Authorities managed to evacuate 12 people — all unhurt — and transfer them to a local hospital, he said.
Footage aired by local broadcaster Metro TV showed the fire engulfing the nursing home, while locals helped to evacuate an elderly person.
Deadly fires are not uncommon in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands.
A fire tore through a seven-story office building in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta this month, killing at least 22 people.
In 2023, at least 12 people were killed in the country’s east after an explosion at a nickel-processing plant.
