TIMESONLINE: A majority of the people who were named by the Home Office as being banned from entering the country have never sought to travel to Britain, it emerged today.
Two of the 16 people named by Jacqui Smith as excluded from Britain are in prison in Russia where they are serving 20-year sentences.
The disclosure came as a US talk-show host said that he would sue the Government for defamation after being placed on the list.
Michael Weiner, also known as Michael Savage, a shock-jock broadcaster in America, has described the Koran as “a book of hate” and questioned the validity of autism.
He told his radio audience in the US that he intended to sue Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who he described as the “lunatic... Home Secretary of England”.
He said: “To link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with Hamas murderers who kill people on buses is defamation.”
In an article posted on his website, he said that he did not advocate violence but traditional values.
He wrote: “What does that say about the government of England? It says more about them than it says about me.”
A leading media lawyer said today that lawyers would be “falling over themselves” to offer their services. >>> Richard Ford and Frances Gibb | Wednesday, May 6, 2009
