Posted on 03/21/2009 4:34:26 AM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA -- An outspoken British MP who's opposed to the war in Afghanistan says he intends to take legal action against the federal government over its decision to refuse him entry to Canada.
George Galloway, an MP for the U.K.'s Respect party, says he learned Friday he would not be allowed into this country for a speaking tour that's scheduled to bring him to Toronto and Ottawa later this month.
A former Labour MP, Mr. Galloway is a contentious figure whose public support for Hamas and Hezbollah has led to accusations he is a terrorist sympathizer.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Friday he would not override the decision to ban Mr. Galloway.
"I would not be interested in doing so in this case. I believe that folks who are supporting or promoting and helping terrorist organizations are not needed to visit Canada," said Mr. Kenney, speaking in Calgary.
"Last week, [Mr. Galloway] publicly called for a coup d'etat in Egypt and the overthrow of the government there, while at the same time delivering aid and resources to Hamas, which is a banned, illegal terrorist organization."
Providing support to a known terrorist organization would "probably constitute grounds for inadmissibility to Canada," Mr. Kenney added.
Mr. Galloway was told he would not be allowed in because border security officials made a operational decision based on a number of factors, according to Mr. Kenney's director of communications, Alykhan Velshi.
Mr. Kenney could override that decision by granting a ministerial permit, but it appears that won't happen in this case.
The minister will not "provide special treatment to a man who brags about giving ‘financial support' to Hamas, a banned terrorist organization in Canada, or who offers sympathy for Canada's enemies in Afghanistan," Velshi wrote in an e-mail. "I'm sure Mr. Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won't be one of them."
Mr. Galloway, 58, told the Ottawa Citizen on Friday that he intends to challenge the department's decision in Federal Court.
"We'll be in court soon to try and overturn this," Mr. Galloway said.
"Canada remains a free country with an independent judiciary. They will have to review whether he has acted reasonably in these circumstance."
The Scottish-born MP has travelled on speaking tours in Canada before. He says he learned he would be barred entry to Canada from a story leaked to the conservative British tabloid The Sun. It suggested his opposition to the war in Afghanistan was the reason.
"I'm not a supporter of terrorism," Mr. Galloway said from his London office.
"I'm an opponent of the Canadian government's idea of how to combat terrorism. And that must be a legitimate area for public debate among parliamentarians of democracies, especially democracies as close as Britain and Canada."
He said he believes the war in Afghanistan is doomed.
"Nobody ever successfully occupied Afghanistan, not even Alexander the Great, and Jason Kenney is not Alexander the Great," he said.
Mr. Galloway said he was shocked that Canada would deny an elected politician from another democracy the right to express that view.
Canada is the only country he has been banned from entering, he said, adding that Israel will allow him in.
In 2006, Mr. Galloway was temporarily denied entry to Egypt on his way to give evidence before a mock trial of U.S. president George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair. The Egyptian government quickly reversed its decision and granted him entry.
B'nai Brith Canada congratulated the federal government Thursday for denying Mr. Galloway entry. The Jewish organization's president, Frank Dimant, said in a statement: "Those who support the pro-terrorist agenda of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, whose avowed aim is the destruction of the Jewish State, should not be given public platforms to spew their vile messaging."
New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow, meanwhile, called the move "pure censorship."
"That's not a good road to go on," she said Friday.
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What in Heaven's name has happened in the home of Braveheart? My ancestors are surely flipping over in their graves.
LOL!
Same guy who organizes those convoys that try to run the Egyptian/Gaza blockade?
He sure is.
Personally, I'd slap him around and kick his ass out of my airport, but that's just me.
Since when is it a RIGHT for a non-citizen to be admitted to a country just because he wants to go there?
People like Galloway live in every nation?
Ever heard of Ward Churchill? ;)
You simply so not understand the leftist mind set my FRiend.
Or does membership in the Commonwealth mean that they have to automatically admit Brit MPs even if they are former agents of the Saddam Husein regime who profited from the Oil-For-Food program.
For what it's worth, the Pride of Dundee should be Broadmoor.
“We’ll be in court soon to try and overturn this,” Mr. Galloway said.
“Canada remains a free country with an independent judiciary. They will have to review whether he has acted reasonably in these circumstance.”
Did this odious individual speak up for Geert Wilders?
Anyway, way to go Canada!
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