Talk-show host to sue Home Office over link to Neo-Nazis and Muslim preachers of hate in list of 16 banned from Britain

Daily Mail 5th May 2009

Mike Savage told the San Francisco Chronicle that being included in such a crowd is no laughing matter - and he is now preparing legal action against Smith, he said. 

‘This lunatic...is linking me up with Nazi skinheads who are killing people in Russia; she's putting me in a league with Hamas murderers who kill Jews on buses,’ he said. 

‘I have never advocated violence. I've been on the air 15 years. My views may be inflammatory, but they're not violent in any way.’

He said he has been defamed and endangered by the British government action. 

‘She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people,’ he said. ‘Does she not think people might hunt me down?’ 

Savage said he has had no contact with the British government or with Smith's office and has no idea how he ended up on the Home Secretary's list. 

He said he is working with attorneys and supporters who have called from around the world in an effort to find out.

The Home Secretary said she decided to 'name and shame' the 16 people banned since October so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate.

The list includes hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and the far-right U.S. talk show host.

'I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country,' Ms Smith told GMTV.

'Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded.

'We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don't want them in this country.'

She said the number of people excluded from Britain had risen from an average of two a month to five a month since October.

The list of the 16 'least wanted' includes radio talk show host Michael Savage - under his real name of Michael Alan Weiner.

'This is someone who has fallen into the category of fomenting hatred, of such extreme views and expressing them in such a way that it is actually likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence if that person were allowed into the country,' Ms Smith told BBC Breakfast.

Also named are American Baptist pastor Fred Waldron Phelps Snr and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper, who have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and claimed the deaths of US soldiers are a punishment for US tolerance of homosexuality.

NAMED AND SHAMED: THE 16 EXCLUDED FROM THE UK SINCE OCTOBER:

Yunis Al Asta

Extremist preacher. Banned because he is considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour, including justifying or glorifying terrorist violence.

Samir Al Quntar

Hezbollah terrorist who was jailed for 30 years for killing four soldiers and kidnapping and murdering an Israeli family.

Stephen Donald Black

Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard who also set up the racist website Stormfront.

Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim

Extremist preacher and a prolific speaker and writer. Considered to be attempting to provoke others to commit terrorist acts.

Erich Gliebe

Ran record label Resistance Records for neo-Nazi bands and leader of American neo-Nazi group.

Abdul Ali Musa

Extremist preacher previously known as Clarence Reams, claims 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy.

Fred Waldron Phelps Snr

American Baptist pastor barred for homophobic views. Has picketed funerals of Aids victims and celebrated U.S. soldier deaths as punishment for American acceptance of homosexuality.

Shirley Phelps-Roper

Daughter of above and also banned for homophobic views.

Artur Ryno

Former leader of violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders. Currently in jail.

Pavel Skachevsky

Another former leader of violent Russian skinhead gang currently in jail. Gang beat migrants and posted videos of attacks on internet.

Michael Alan Weiner

Far-right DJ in America, also known as Mike Savage, with controversial views on immigration, Islam, rape and autism.

• Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal - an extremist preacher. Banned because he is considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour, including justifying or glorifying terrorist violence.
• Mike Guzovsky - leader of a violent Jewish extremist group and actively involved with military training camps.
• Safwat Hijazi - extremist preacher who makes television broadcasts. Considered to be glorifying terrorist violence.
• Nasr Javed - senior Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, the group said to be behind the Mumbai attacks in November.
• Amir Siddique - extremist preacher. Banned because his considered to be fomenting terrorist violence.

Ms Smith added: 'If people have so clearly overstepped the mark in terms of the way not just that they are talking but the sort of attitudes that they are expressing to the extent that we think that this is likely to cause or have the potential to cause violence or inter-community tension in this country, then actually I think the right thing is not to let them into the country in the first place. Not to open the stable door then try to close it later.'

'It's a privilege to come to this country. There are certain behaviours that mean you forfeit that privilege.'

Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal, Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe are also on the list released today.

Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned from coming to Britain. Both are currently in prison.

Making up the rest of the 16 named by the Home Office today are preachers Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi and Amir Siddique, Muslim activist Abdul Ali Musa (previously Clarence Reams), murderer and Hezbollah terrorist Samir Al Quntar and Kashmiri terror group leader Nasr Javed.

AND THESE ARE SOME ALLOWED TO STAY IN THE UK:

Abu Quatada

Osama Bin Laden's top man in the UK. He is in jail fighting an attempt to extradite him to Jordan on terrorism charges.

Learco Chindamo

The 28-year-old, who killed headmaster Stephen Lawrence in 1995, is free to stay in the UK after lawyers claimed that deportation to Italy would 'breach his right to a family life'.

Ahsan Sabri

A Pakistani illegal immigrant who killed a young writer by driving into her at 60mph, he cannot be deported due to his human right to a family life. Sabri, who had been driving uninsured and unlicenced had married a British woman.

Caliph Ali Asmar

Iraqui Kurd asylum seeker jailed for two years for unlawful wounding. After serving eight months he was released and went on to rape a woman and stab a love rival. He is now in jail indefinitely.

Gary Glitter

Real name Paul Gadd, he served almost three years in prison in Vietnam for sex crimes involving two young girls. The former pop star, who returned to the UK in August,  also served two months in jail in 1999 for possessing child pornography.

Dr Philip Nitschke

The euthanasia activist was dubbed 'Dr Death' after bringing the first of his suicide workshops to the UK today. Nitschke has helped four people die in his native Australia, but in the UK assisted suicide is illegal with a maximum punishment of 14 years in prison.