verbena-19

British MP Calls for UK Anti-Terror Ban on Televangalist Roberts

From: Scotsman.com

Tue 30 Aug 2005

Pat Robertson said 'taking out' Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, would be cheaper than a war.

Call for anti-terror law ban on US evangelist

HAMISH MACDONELL
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR


Key points
• MP calls for Pat Robertson ban over alleged assassination comment
• Evangelist said Venezuelan president Chavez should be 'taken out' on TV
• Home Office declines to comment on proposed ban under anti-terror laws

Key quote
"My view is that [Mr Robertson] is frankly not the sort of person we would welcome into Britain. The new law would catch him as someone preaching hate and murder" - Nigel Griffiths MP


A GOVERNMENT minister has fuelled the row over Britain's proposed new anti-terror laws by calling for Pat Robertson, the controversial American evangelist, to be banned from the UK. Nigel Griffiths, the deputy leader of the House of Commons, said Mr Robertson should be barred from Britain for inciting "hate and murder".

Mr Robertson has been at the centre of a storm in the United States after he called on Washington to assassinate Hugo Chavez, the left-wing president of Venezuela.

Tony Blair's proposed anti-terror laws are designed to prevent some Islamic preachers who back suicide bombers and terrorism from coming to Britain.

The laws would give the government the ability to refuse entry to anyone found to have incited terrorism.

But the Prime Minister did not expect the laws to be used to catch Christian preachers, however radical, particularly those with influential friends in the US Republican Party, such as Mr Robertson.

Mr Griffiths said yesterday that he supported the new anti-terror laws, but argued the legislation should be used in an even-handed way, and if that meant annoying the US government, that was not his concern.

He said: "My view is that [Mr Robertson] is frankly not the sort of person we would welcome into Britain. The new law would catch him as someone preaching hate and murder."

And he added: "I think anyone who calls for violent measures against others should not be welcome in Britain. What we need to ensure is that what applies to extreme mullahs applies to Pat Robertson.

"I think, if we did that, we could show that this legislation is not targeted at one single race or religious group."

The Edinburgh South MP may well support the proposed anti-terrorism legislation but, in coming out so strongly against Mr Robertson, he appears to be provoking a potential clash with the US administration - something which would greatly embarrass 10 Downing Street.

Mr Griffiths has always been seen as a loyal Brownite and his comments will be dismissed by No10 as the machinations of one of the Chancellor's closest supporters.

But any attempt to use the anti-terror laws to prevent Mr Robertson from entering Britain would cause a split between No10 and the White House.

Asked whether he was worried that his comments might anger the US administration, Mr Griffiths replied: "As deputy leader of the House of Commons, what the American administration are happy with or not happy with is not one of my concerns."

Mr Robertson - a failed Republican presidential candidate, self-described "humanitarian" and outspoken founder of the right-wing Christian Coalition - sparked the controversy when he said that killing Mr Chavez, the South American leader who has a prickly relationship with the US, would be "a whole lot cheaper than starting a war".

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," the 75-year-old TV preacher said.

The Government refused to comment on Mr Griffiths' remarks. A Home Office spokesman said: "We will not be commenting on individual cases."



This article:

http://www.scotsman.com/?id=1862182005

Terrorism in the UK:

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=758

Websites:

Home Office - terrorism
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism/

MI5
http://www.mi5.gov.uk/

Liberty
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/

Muslim Community of Gloucester (Sajid Badat)
http://www.mcgonline.org.uk/


Scotsman.com

posted by Annamarie at 3:20 PM