Leigh Meyers wrote:
Feds admit to jailing U.S. citizens as illegal immigrants, but call incidents rare
We did a nice protest yesterday at the US consulate in Durban on this theme... there are some nice pics of the great warrior Dennis Brutus (83) at http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs ... and tomorrow the press will have him leading a delegation to City Hall at 1pm today, presenting the deputy mayor with his valentine's day gift: a smelly old fish, representing disgust at the city's handling of eco-social justice challenges. The Mercury Habib vows to fight US entry ban February 14, 2008 Edition 2 Sinegugu Ndlovu THE University of KwaZulu-Natal' s centre for civil society demonstrated outside the United States consulate in Durban yesterday and handed over a memorandum seeking answers as to why a Johannesburg academic was denied entry into the US last year. The demonstration coincided with a court hearing in the US where Adam Habib's ban is to be debated, and a reverse of the ban is possible. Habib, the deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, was barred from entering the US in 2006 because he had "engaged in terrorist activities", but the US government failed to explain the basis for its accusation or provide any evidence to support the claims. Dennis Brutus, an activist and Habib's close friend, said it was troubling that Habib, a man of "great integrity", had been denied entry into the US. Habib said the ban hindered his work with American scholars. He said he intended fighting the ban. "It's outrageous . . . It is very important that I fight this because it will expand if I let it go," he said. Consular spokesman Riley Sever said: "I don't have first-hand information on Habib's matter but I will be forwarding the memorandum to the US embassy in Pretoria which will look at it and report back." [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:sinegugu.ndlovu%40inl.co.za> *** Protest at denial of US visa February 14 2008 at 12:11PM By Rivonia Naidu Political analyst Professor Adam Habib believes the United States government's decision to deny him entry to that country has "far reaching implications for global society". Habib, the founder of the Centre for Civil Society in KwaZulu-Natal, made the comments on Wednesday after members from the centre gathered outside the US Consulate in West Street, demonstrating against the US government's failure to respond to Habib's request for a new visa. Habib, a South African academic, was barred from the US in 2006 because of his criticism of US policy in Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay prisoner camp. He then re-applied for a visa in April 2007, because he was invited to speak at a US conference, but was again denied entry. He said he was told he was being excluded in terms of the US Naturalisation and Immigration Act. "The act simply means if a person is involved, funds or supports terrorism, they will be banned from the US. And the US government strongly believes I'm a terrorist," he said. He said although he has participated in various demonstrations criticising the war in Iraq, he was "outraged" by the accusation that he was a terrorist. Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a civil rights group, filed a federal suit on behalf of four groups that invited Habib to speak in the US. The ACLU accused the Bush administration of stifling academic debate by routinely denying visas to critics. The lawsuit stated the US government's decision to revoke Habib's visa forced him to turn down speaking engagements, thereby violating First Amendment rights of US citizens, who could not hear his views. "The US government has double standards. They can harbour Mark Thatcher, a man who has tainted hands, but they refuse to let me into the country because I criticise some of their policies. "This is why I will do everything in my power to fight the US government," he said. o This article was originally published on page 5 of Daily News on February 14, 2008
