The trial into an army veteran's silent prayer near an abortion clinic has begun at Poole Magistrates' Court.
Adam Smith-Connor was issued with a fixed penalty notice on 13 December 2022 after allegedly being in breach of an abortion clinic "buffer zone" in Bournemouth the previous month.
He told officers he had been "praying for his deceased son" who was aborted by an ex-girlfriend, a decision he now regrets.
Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council filed charges against Smith-Connor for praying within the boundaries of the buffer zone. The buffer zone bans a number of pro-life activities including prayer and offers of help to women experiencing crisis pregnancies.
The three-day trial is due to conclude on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of the hearing, Smith-Connor said that opinions or beliefs held in people's minds should not be a crime.
"Nobody should be prosecuted for silent prayer. It is unfathomable that in an apparently free society, I am being criminally charged on the basis of my silent thoughts, in the privacy of my own mind. It's not different than being tried for a thoughtcrime," he said.
"I served for 20 years in the army reserves, including a tour in Afghanistan, to protect the fundamental freedoms that this country is built upon. I continue that spirit of service as a health care professional and church volunteer. It troubles me greatly to see our freedoms eroded to the extent that thoughtcrimes are now being prosecuted in the UK."
Smith-Connor is being supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK), which said the case revealed confusion among Britain's police officers about where the law stands on silent prayer.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, said, "In various other circumstances, the police and the courts have made it clear that silent prayer is not a criminal act. And yet, BCP Council, which has already conceded that presence is not in itself an offence, has introduced a rights-restricting censorship zone, which they now argue extends to a ban on silent prayer.
"In permitting the prosecution of silent prayer, we are sailing into dangerous waters regarding human rights protections in the UK. Censorship zones are inherently wrong and engender unhelpful legal confusion regarding the right to free thought. Both domestic and international law have long established freedom of thought as an absolute right that must not ever be interfered with by the state.
"The Telegraph recently reported that Ministers are considering naming 'silent prayer' as a crime in their 'buffer zones' guidance – to do so would not only be a legal error, it could open up the floodgates to human rights violations similar to those experienced by Adam Smith-Connor."
