Posted on 01/20/2016 10:38:18 AM PST by Theoria
Yasiin Bey, the American rapper formerly known as Mos Def, has been charged with violating South Africa's immigration laws after he was arrested last week trying to leave the country on an unrecognised travel document.
Bey, who is free on bail, will appear in court on March 8, officials said on Wednesday.
The entertainer was arrested on Thursday in Cape Town when he produced a "World Passport" to get on a flight to Ethiopia.
The World Passport is a document issued by a non-profit organisation called World Service Authority. South Africa does not recognise it, making it illegal for anyone to try to use it as a travel document, the Home Affairs department said.
Bey, who has lived in Cape since 2013, called his arrest illogical and unjust in a post on fellow rapper Kanye West's website. (www.kanyewest.com)
"I'm being prevented from leaving, unjustly, unlawfully, without any logical reason," he said.
The World Passport was not a fictitious document as claimed by South African government officials, he said.
Citing the United Nations' right to freedom of movement, the World Service Authority has been issuing World Passports since 1954. Many countries do not accept the passport either as travel document or a formal identity but WSA claims countries such as Togo, Mauritiania, Ecuador, Zambia, Tanzania have accepted the 30-page document in the past.
Authorities have also ordered Bey's wife and child to leave South Africa by January 29 because they had overstayed their visit.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Let all rappers go to South Africa and stay there. Don’t come back
So on what passport did he enter the country?
Good question.
Get out, you overstayed your visa.
Oops, you can’t leave because your passport isn’t valid.
A guy just can’t win these days.
If Togo accepts it, you know it’s good!
No doubt.
Funny actor, but he’s been bit by the crazy bug.
He should have used his towel to help him travel without a passport. Every galactic traveler should know that.
“Rapper Mos Def due in court for trying to leave South Africa on “World Passport”[Illegal Alien]”
Mos Def is in my WOW Garrison Barracks.
I actually like the idea of a “World Passport”, ever since I heard about Hillary “turning off” Edward Snowden’s passport while he was flying from Hong Kong.
Does the other side of the passport say “Don’t Panic” in large friendly letters?
Mos Def did a superb acting job in “Something the Lord Made.” This 2004 HBO biopic was about the relationship between heart surgery pioneer Dr. Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, a self-taught Black lab assistant played by Mos Def. The burdens and indignities of Jim Crow racism are shown, but the focus is kept on the relationship between Blalock and Thomas and their accomplishments in heart surgery.
Still doesn’t make rap palatable. Nor does it make the so call artists capable of living in civilized society.
Quite true. Even in ancient Rome, performers had a bad reputation based on faults and misconduct similar to what they demonstrate today.
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