In a shocking Orwellian nightmare, a mother has been arrested after referring to a transgender activist with her former male name in the United Kingdom.

Kate Scottow, 38, was detained and arrested in front of her two children by the Hertfordshire Police. Scottow had “deadnamed” trans activist Stephanie Hayden on Twitter, referring to her with her former male identity. The police questioned her in regards to her communications with Hayden before arresting her.

Scottow was detained for seven hours and issued an injunction by a judge threatening further punishment if she continued to refer to Hayden as a male.

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The government seized her mobile phone and laptop, in addition to taking a sample of her DNA and recording her fingerprints.

Scottow has claimed that she merely holds a “genuine and reasonable belief that a human cannot change their sex.” Unfortunately for her, holding or expressing such a commonly-held belief in the UK renders one susceptible to criminal prosecution for thought crime.

The United Kingdom has little to no legal protections for freedom of speech and legal sanctions on online political expression in the country have increased in recent years. Almost 3,400 people were arrested there under political speech laws in 2016, leaving the nominally ‘free’ country comparable to authoritarian nations such as North Korea or the former Soviet Union.

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