A pastor has hailed a “win for free speech” after police dropped a criminal investigation into him over comments he made about Islam and transgender ideology while street preaching.
Pastor Dia Moodley, 58, was arrested in Bristol city centre last November on suspicion of “inciting religious hatred” and committing a Section 4A religiously aggravated public order offence under the Public Order Act 1986.
He was held in a police cell for eight hours and interrogated by the police before being released on bail. His bail conditions initially banned him from entering Bristol city centre but this requirement was later dropped.
Following a months-long investigation, Avon and Somerset Police have decided not to take any further action against the pastor.
Welcoming the decision, Pastor Moodley said he was glad the investigation had been dropped but said his experience was “the definition of two-tier policing” and that Christian speech was being criminalised.
“This is a win for free speech, but I never should have been arrested, treated like a criminal, and investigated for months for peacefully sharing my faith in the public square,” he said.
He is consulting with his legal team about possible legal action against Avon and Somerset Police.
“I will continue to share my faith publicly, undeterred by the police’s censorship and the threats and violence I have faced, and will stand for free speech not just for myself, but for the rights of all people in the UK,” he said.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel at ADF, said the outcome was “a vindication of Pastor Dia’s lawful conduct”.
“He has been repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, and told that expressing his Christian views is a criminal matter. On every occasion, he has challenged this state overreach and prevailed,” he said.
It is the second time that police have dropped a criminal investigation into Pastor Moodley. The first time followed a previous arrest in March 2024 in connection with his street preaching. His lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said that on this occasion, he was subjected to violence and threats from bystanders, yet Mr Moodley was the one who was arrested.
His lawyers said he was threatened again most recently on 4 April, with video evidence of a verbal threat from a Muslim bystander. Mr Moodley reported the man to the police who concluded that although his comments were “unpleasant”, they “do not constitute an offence”.
Mr Igunnubole said there was a “two-tier approach” to policing in Britain. He called for renewed efforts to “retrain ideologically motivated police forces who too often find themselves unable or unwilling to differentiate between a lawful exercise of fundamental rights and actual violent criminality”
“The war of attrition against free speech in the UK, demonstrated in Pastor Dia’s case, must end,” he said.
“Censorial laws need to be repealed urgently, and stronger protections, including a Free Speech Bill, are needed to reverse the growing culture of censorship within law enforcement.”
