File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/aut-op-sy.9707, message 57


Date: Thu, 10 Jul 1997 08:49:46 +1000
From: sjwright-AT-vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Steve Wright)
Subject: AUT: Lorenzo update 10 July/1


I haven't yet heard any details about the local demos proposed over this.

It's curious IMHO that Graeme Campbell, another far right MP like Hanson,
has criticised the government for denying Lorenzo his visa . . .


______________




[The Age Melbourne[[NEWS AD]
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Thursday 10 July [Image]
      1997        [Image][Prev Story][Next Story]

                       Black Panther fooled system, says minister

                       By KAREN MIDDLETON,
                       Canberra

                       A convicted American hijacker and former member
                       of the radical Black Panthers group, Mr Lorenzo
                       Ervin, had outsmarted the Immigration
                       Department's computer data-matching system
                       simply by using a different middle name, a
                       senior minister said yesterday.

                       The acting Immigration Minister, Senator Amanda
                       Vanstone, said Mr Ervin would be deported to
                       the United States tomorrow after the Government
                       rejected applications to allow him to stay in
                       Australia while his lawyers began court
                       proceedings to challenge the cancellation of
                       his visa.

                       This was despite the US Government having
                       previously granted him "executive clemency"
                       over a 1969 aircraft hijacking conviction for
                       which he served 14 years' jail. Immigration
                       officials were yesterday consulting US
                       officials over the meaning of the clemency but
                       said this would not change the deportation
                       decision.

                       Senator Vanstone said Mr Ervin's case would not
                       be reviewed and that he was being deported
                       because the Government had deemed him to be
                       "not of good character".

                       A US consular spokeswoman said executive
                       clemency was the power of the president to
                       pardon or commute a criminal sentence. But she
                       was unsure whether this negated or erased a
                       person's conviction - the key issue on which
                       the decision to cancel Mr Ervin's visa was
                       based.

                       The Government's decision attracted criticism
                       from Aboriginal groups and proponents of free
                       speech, including an independent former Labor
                       MP, Mr Graeme Campbell. The Angry People
                       anarchist group has planned protests in several
                       states today and a spokesman said protests
                       would also be held overseas.

                       Mr Ervin, who is being held in a correctional
                       centre in Brisbane, issued a statement through
                       his lawyers alleging immigration officers had
                       assaulted him when he was arrested on Tuesday
                       after voluntarily attending a meeting to
                       discuss his visa.

                       Senator Vanstone said the assault allegation
                       would be investigated only if a formal
                       complaint was made.

                       She said Mr Ervin had been able to enter
                       Australia by adding his "stage name", Kom'boa,
                       as his middle name when travelling. She agreed
                       this raised questions about the sophistication
                       of the data-matching system.

                       Mr Ervin came to Australia to undertake a
                       four-week speaking tour on racism arranged by
                       Angry People. But he was arrested and had his
                       visa cancelled on Tuesday after the Prime
                       Minister, Mr John Howard, saw media reports
                       that he planned to speak to Aboriginal groups
                       and said he should be deported.

                       

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