The US State Department flagged ‘serious restrictions’ on freedom of expression in the UK (Picture: Reuters)

The United States,home of Alligator Alcatraz,has slammed the UK for ‘backsliding’ on human rights in a new assessment.

The US State Department analyses human rights conditions worldwide each year,but has flagged what it describes as ‘serious restrictions’ on freedom of expression in the UK.

‘The government sometimes took credible steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses,but prosecution and punishment for such abuses were inconsistent,’ the report read.

A UK government spokesperson told the BBC: ‘Free speech is vital for democracy around the world,including here in the UK,and we are proud to uphold freedoms whilst keeping our citizens safe.’

It comes after Vice President JD Vance criticised the UK over a legal case in which a former serviceman who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre.

JD Vance previously slammed the UK over a legal case after a man prayed silently outside an abortion clinic (Picture: Getty)

The US has also been accused of gross human rights violations,including the installation of a detention centre called ‘Alligator Alcatraz’.

The president said that ‘some of the most vicious people on the planet’ would be held at the detention centre,which takes its name from the alligator-filled environment and the notorious former maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island in California.

And just days ago,the Supreme Court was asked to overturn its landmark same-sex marriage ruling,which legalised gay marriage across the country.

Protests against Alligator Alcatraz are ongoing (Picture: Reuters)

What court case was JD Vance referencing?

JD Vance was referencing a case in Bournemouth last year,when a man,who sat silently praying outside an abortion clinic,was found to have breached an abortion clinic safe zone.Adam Smith-Connor,51,broke a public space protection order and was given a two-year suspended sentence and had to pay £9,000.Smith-Connor did email the clinic before attending,but was stopped by a community officer and refused to leave.Crackdowns on access to abortion have also been at the forefront of discourse in the US and abroad.Earlier this year,another US state announced that women who suffer a miscarriage could be investigated under new anti-abortion laws.A Texas woman was forced to carry her dead fetus in her womb for two weeks after it was discovered she had miscarried.Stell’s situation went from bad to worse when she asked her doctor to perform a standard surgery to remove the fetal remains,and her doctor refused.In Georgia,a pregnant woman was kept alive, despite being brain-dead,to carry her baby to term.