Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Shirley Phelps-Roper (photo: Winnepeg Free Press)
Move over America’s “Most Wanted.” Here comes the United Kingdom’s “Least Wanted”—a select group of individuals who are persona non grata on British soil. Since 2005, the British government has compiled a list of those banned from entering the U.K. for promoting hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity, but this is the first year that government officials have made public the list of the “least wanted.”
Of the 22 people prohibited from entering the U.K., five are Americans. There is Fred Phelps, 79, the Kansas-based Baptist pastor, and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who have drawn media attention in the U.S. for their extreme anti-gay behavior that includes picketing the funerals of AIDS victims. They also have celebrated the deaths of American soldiers, who have been punished, say the Phelpses, because of the United States’ tolerance of homosexuality.
Another “least wanted” American is talk show host Michael Savage (real name Michael Weiner), banned from the U.K. for his views on immigration, Islam, rape and autism. Savage was quick to exploit his lsiting by threatening to sue the British government for defamation.
Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black, creator of the website Stormfront.org, got blacklisted for promoting criminal activity and fostering hatred.
So did Abdul Ali Musa, aka Clarence Reams, a Muslim activist who likes to blame Jews for the creation of slavery and the destruction of the World Trade Center, when he’s not encouraging violence and acts of terrorism.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
UK 'Least Wanted' List Published (BBC News)
Who is on UK 'Least Wanted' List? (BBC News)
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