MP George Galloway has been blocked from visiting Canada because of his support for Hamas.

Mr Galloway was reported to be giving a speech in Toronto later this month but has been denied entry because he is said to be a threat to national security. Canadian Immigration minister Alykhan Velshi said:

"I'm sure Galloway has a large Rolodex of friends in regimes elsewhere in the world willing to roll out the red carpet for him. Canada, however, won't be one of them. We're going to uphold the law, not give special treatment to a street-corner Cromwell who brags about giving 'financial support' to Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned in Canada."

In February the far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders was turned away from Heathrow after testing the Home Secretary’s ban on him entering the country. Immigration officials denied the Dutch MP entry to the country after the Government decided he should not be allowed to attend a screening of his controversial anti-Islamist film tonight. Mr Wilders said:



"I am in a detention centre at Heathrow ... I am detained. They took my passport. I will not be allowed to enter the country. They will send me back within a few hours.” On his flight to London, he told The Times that the British Government was “the biggest bunch of cowards in Europe - It is easy to invite people you agree with, it is more difficult to invite people you disagree with and this is the proof of the pudding," he said.

Both were denied entry for the same excuse: 'A threat to security' - Wilders was not a threat to UK security and Galloway is not a threat to Canadian security. The true threat to security is the Government suppression of the right to free speech.

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