Personally I think the guy should have been allowed to enter I’m sure thousands of misogynistic homophobes cross our borders every day are the objectors really suggesting that we make entrants fill out extensive questionnaires to prove their politically correct credentials before they are aloud entry. I can’t help but feel that these PC objections are being raised by the politicians and sections of the media who normally decry political correctness and who I’d consider antifeminist and who have constantly opposed equal rights for homosexuals.Pressure grows to prosecute Islamic cleric may be deported
By Jason Bennetto and Andrew Grice
09 July 2004
An Islamic cleric visiting Britain could be prosecuted for inciting racial hatred after he declared his support for suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq.
Scotland Yard has asked the Crown Prosecution Service to consider what legal action can be taken against Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose speaking tour of Britain has been mired in controversy.
Jewish groups, in particular, have been outraged by the Egyptian-born cleric's comments on suicide bombers. His extreme views on homosexuality and belief that husbands should beat "disobedient" wives have also caused offence.
Yesterday it was revealed that Mr Qaradawi has been invited to speak at a conference for Muslim children jointly sponsored by the Metropolitan Police. The conference, entitled Our Children Our Future, in Wembley, north-west London, aims to stress the value of education to Muslim youth. The Met's logo is one from several British organisations on the event's leaflets.
Sir John Stevens, Commissioner of the Met, said none of his officers would share a platform with the cleric and disassociated himself from his comments. He added that Scotland Yard was urgently reviewing its involvement with the conference on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Tony Blair and David Blunkett said that though Mr Qaradawi's visit was being monitored, any exclusion from the country would have to be lawful.
Mr Qaradawi arrived on Monday for a week-long visit to London. In an interview on the BBC's Newsnight programme he defended suicide bombers as a form of jihad or holy war: "This is not suicide, it is martyrdom in the name of God."
Asked whether these views extended to the situation in Iraq, Mr Qaradawi said: "If the Iraqis can confront the enemy, there's no need for these acts of martyrdom. If they don't have the means, acts of martyrdom are allowed."
He has previously described homosexuality as "a disease that needs a cure" and said wife beating "is acceptable with the hand but not with a stick".
Sir John, who yesterday confirmed he was retiring in January, said that following the broadcast he had received a series of complaints from "eminent members of the Jewish community". The CPS is currently examining comments made by Mr Qaradawi, although it has proved difficult in the past to launch successful prosecutions in these cases.
Commenting on the Wembley conference, Richard Barnes, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "I have no problem supporting an education conference but if they are talking about beating women with sticks and stringing up gays it is not something I want to be associated with."
But Abdal Ullah, the MPA's chair of community engagement, said: "People who will be coming are not at all taken aback by the controversy. They have come to listen to a man who has knowledge and a man who has a great deal of respect in the Muslim world."
Meanwhile, the the Government accused Michael Howard of "opportunism" after it emerged that Tory-run Kensington and Chelsea Council is to allow Mr Qaradawi to go ahead with a meeting at its town hall tomorrow. The council's decision is embarrassing for Mr Howard, who criticised Mr Blair in the Commons on Wednesday for allowing the Muslim cleric to remain in Britain.
BRITAIN'S BOGEYMEN
YUSUF AL-QARADAWI
Branded by The Sun as "Mr Evil", the Egyptian-born spiritual leader has caused outrage by his sympathy for suicide bombers but, in spite of being banned from the United States since 1999, he had no apparent problems entering Britain. Mr Qaradawi claimed to be bemused by the fuss. "I was told that my visit has caused a row and I do not understand why," he said. "It is not the first time I have visited London, it is not the 10th time or the 100th time. For over a third of a century I have been visiting London. London is an open city, so why is there this row when I visit London today?" The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said he was unable to ban Mr Qaradawi but that the visit was being monitored.
LOUIS FARRAKHAN
Charismatic and controversial in equal measure, the leader of the black separatist group Nation of Islam has been banned from Britain since 1986.
Mr Farrakhan has made several legal challenges to the bar but his time is running out: he is 70 and suffering from cancer. His description of Judaism as a "gutter religion" and Adolf Hitler as a "great man" led the former Home Secretary, Jack Straw, to describe him as "anti-Semitic and racially divisive" but his British followers say he could be a positive influence on African-Caribbean communities. In 2001 the High Court rejected the ban, but David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, overturned the ruling on appeal and said Mr Farrakhan's "presence is not conducive to good public order".
GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was arrested in London in October 1998 and was the subject of a legal tug-of-war as he resisted attempts to have him extradited to Spain to face murder charges relating to human rights abuses during his period as leader of the Chilean military junta. In April 1999, the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, ruled Mr Pinochet should be held while Spain proceeded with extradition. But after Mr Pinochet's ill-health was revealed, he was freed on humanitarian grounds in January 2000, to the fury of human rights campaigners.
SUN MYUNG MOON
With his 500,000 followers (the Moonies) worldwide, the Rev Moon claims that in 1936 he was chosen by Christ to found the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Thechief shareholder of the Unification Church was jailed in 1984 for failure to pay tax. In 1995 he was barred from entering Britain, on the ground that his visit would be "contrary to the public good". The ban was later overturned in the High Court but the Home Office said yesterday that "Father" Moon, now 84, was still "deemed to pose a risk to public order".
THE REV AL SHARPTON
Conservative MPs called for Mr Sharpton not to be allowed into Britain in 1991 because of his militant speeches but the Home Office refused. Mr Sharpton, 49, has campaigned on highly-charged racial issues including the death of Stephen Lawrence. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mr Sharpton was ordained as a Pentecostal minister at the age of 10. He ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1992 and 1994 and for Mayor of New York in 1997. His attempt to win the Democratic nomination for the 2004 presidential election also failed.
The real issue is obviously his stance on suicide bombing it’s one I oppose but not really a radical position, he doesn’t seem to be supporting bombings against our troops in Iraq and he’s not inciting racial hatred so I don’t see why he should be bared entry.
Of the list of other controversial entrants anyone have any idea why Moon was denied entry? As for Sharpton I just thought he was a self-aggrandising, grand standing jerk what’s he ever done that would make Tory’s call for us to refuse him entry?
That thing about Pinochet (if that fuck was aloud entry practically anybody should be) reminded me of Milosevic’s current “health problems” what is it with human rights trials and the health of the accused?