Verdict on Farrakhan criticised

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, AUG 1. Sharp criticism has greeted a high court ruling lifting a 15-year-old ban on the entry into Britain of the controversial black American Muslim demagogue, Mr. Louis Farrakhan, whose anti-Semitic and racist remarks were widely quoted today to suggest that his presence here was likely to cause racial unrest.

The British Government, which barred his entry in 1986, said it was ``extremely disappointed'' and indicated it might appeal while Mr. Farrakhan's supporters sought to portray him as a changed man saying his visits to other countries had not created any problem. The 67-year-old Chicago-based founder of the Nation of Islam movement welcomed the ruling saying it was ``15 years overdue''. The ban, however, would stay until October when the court is to give reasons for the ruling.

Mr. Farrakhan, who is suffering from cancer and is believed to have mellowed in recent years, assured his critics that his intentions were completely honorable, and claimed that he had been a victim of political propaganda. ``I don't think there is any evidence in 47 years of my ministry in America and other parts of the world that any violence follows my speeches or teaching'', he told the BBC.

He claimed that his remarks had been quoted out of context, and offered to sit down with the Jewish community to explain his viewpoint. ``I think when they get to know me for themselves they will absolutely see that it has been nothing more than political propaganda that has been used effectively to deny my access to the U.K.,'' he said.

His counsel, Mr. Nicholas Blake, QC, told the court that Mr. Farrakhan recognised the ``hurt'' some of his language had caused but had given an undertaking not to make inflammatory remarks. The ban, he argued, was an ``unlawful and disproportionate'' interference with his right to communicate freely with his followers. The ruling by Mr. Justice Turner, however, provoked an angry reaction from Jewish organisations which recalled some of his widely publicised anti-Semitic speeches to justify the ban. ``This is a sad day for all of us in Britain who work for good race relations. In the past, Farrakhan has stirred up racial tension especially by his thoroughly nasty references to Jewish people,'' a leader of the World Jewish Congress said. A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews criticised Mr. Farrakhan's ``philosophy of racial segregation and hostility.'' He said he was concerned that the ban had been lifted. Mr. Farrakhan, who once called Hitler a ``very great man'' and has consistently railed against the white race, has a large following of black Americans and his Nation of Islam movement has activists scattered across the western world, including the U.K.

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Section  : International
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