The case of Lucy Connolly, a mother who was jailed for a social media post, has been raised in the White House following a landmark GB News interview.
Connolly, 42, a former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor, was sentenced to 31 months in prison after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred following the Southport stabbings last year.
Her appeal to reduce her sentence was rejected by three judges on Tuesday, meaning she will remain behind bars until at least August.
But now, her imprisonment has been raised with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an extraordinary diplomatic development.
It comes after American political commentator and activist Charlie Kirk pledged to take Connolly's case right to the top of the Trump administration.
Charlie Kirk, pictured speaking to Ben Leo on GB News, pledged to take Connolly's case right to the top of the Trump administration.
GB NEWS
"I'm going to bring this up to Marco Rubio. I'm going to send him a text," he vowed to Britain's News Channel.
He also told the Oxford Union on Tuesday: "As of today, Lucy Connolly is going to jail for two-and-a-half years in this country for a social media post that she apologised for and deleted...
"That is not a free speech battle at all."
He added: "You should be allowed to say outrageous things. You should be allowed to say contrarian things."
Since then, The Telegraph has confirmed that Connolly's case has indeed been brought to Rubio's attention.
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'I'm going to bring this up to Marco Rubio. I'm going to send him a text,' Charlie Kirk had told the People's Channel
REUTERSIt comes as American officials are increasingly concerned about freedom of expression in Britain, with Connolly's case becoming the latest flashpoint in transatlantic tensions over free speech.
Hours after Axel Rudakubana killed three young girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport last July, Connolly posted on social media expressing her outrage.
She wrote: "Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care, while you're at it, take the treacherous government politicians with them."
Connolly deleted the post fewer than four hours later, but by then it had been viewed 310,000 times.
She was arrested on August 6 following nationwide unrest over Rudakubana's vile attacks.
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Lucy Connolly was jailed for a social media post
XPolice searching her devices found other concerning posts, including one where she joked about "playing the mental health card" if arrested.
The Court of Appeal judges ruled her 31-month sentence was not "manifestly excessive".
Just months ago, US Vice President JD Vance warned during a speech at the Munich Security Conference that "free speech in Britain and across Europe was in retreat".
And earlier this year, the US State Department took the unusual step of issuing a statement expressing concern about "freedom of expression in the United Kingdom" regarding an anti-abortion campaigner's case.
The department said it was "monitoring" the prosecution of Livia Tossici-Bolt, who was charged after holding a sign near a Bournemouth abortion clinic.
