Farrakhan wins the fight to preach in Great Britain. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan won a key battle in his 15-year fight for the right to preach in Britain, as a judge ordered the government to grant him a visa. The Home Office, Britain's equivalent of the U.S. Justice Department, says it has kept Farrakhan out "to defend the social cohesion and racial harmony of this country."

Explaining the refusal to issue a visa last year, then - Home Secretary Jack Straw said that Farrakhan's "anti-Semitic and racially divisive view" might lead to disorder. The High Court, London's trial-level court, said the ban cannot continue, no reason given. The British office of the Nation of Islam said that its court papers had invoked the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits governments from punishing people for their political views.

This "European bill of rights" was incorporated into the British law, last year which might explain Farrakhan's success. ( The Tampa Tribune, Frontpage: August 1, 2001)