Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders wins appeal against exclusion from UK
The Home Office faced a fresh blow tonight as an immigration tribunal overturned its ban on far right Dutch politician Geert Wilders from entering Britain.
Mr Wilders, a highly controversial figure who admits he ‘hates Islam’ and has described the Koran as a ‘fascist book’, was barred from the UK earlier this year on ministers’ orders as he arrived to show a controversial film at Westminster.
Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith used her powers under immigration law to exclude him on the grounds that he ‘threatened community harmony and therefore public safety.’
But yesterday lawyers acting for Mr Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party who is facing prosecution in his home country, successfully persuaded the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in London that Mrs Smith’s decision had been flawed, and breached his human rights.