Saturday 2 July 2011

UK bans Nofal entry

[ 01/07/2011 - 06:47 PM ]

 AMMAN, (PIC)-- Airport authorities in Queen Alia airport in the Jordanian capital Amman have banned Thursday prominent Muslim preacher Dr.Ahmad Nofal from boarding the airplane to London, saying the ban was requested by the British Embassy in Jordan that issued him the visa.

According to the authorities, the ban was based on the same reasons that led to the arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Muslim Movement in the 1948-ocupied Palestine, for his support to the Palestinian issue.

Zaher Al-Birawi, the public relations and information officer in the Palestinian Forum, said in press statements Thursday that the ban falls in line with the strong smear campaign launched by extremist rightist lobbies and media outlets close to the Israeli occupation which publicly display their hatred to the Palestinian cause.

He added that the purpose of those lobbies and media outlets was to distort the image of those personalities that defend the Palestinian issue and uncover the ugly face of the Israeli occupation, and to deny them the chance of communicating with their supporters among the Muslim community in the UK and the western community in general.

The Forum together with the Middle East monitor have organized a number of lectures for Nofal and scheduled a number of meetings between him and members of the house of commons, media institutions, and major newspapers in Britain.

Birawi also accused the Zionist lobby in Britain of being behind the move to ban Nofal and Salah from lecturing in the UK, saying that the Zionist lobby started to feel the danger of delegitimizing the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and of unveiling its criminal nature against the Palestinian people.

Nofal was the target of a smear campaign by pro-Israel media outlets accusing him of hatred to Jews and Judaism in order to prevent him from participating in the Palestine Day festival organized yearly by the Forum although he did so many times in the past years.
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