JOHANNESBURG - The grandson of South Africa's first Black president, Nelson Mandela, said Friday the U.K. government denied him an entry visa because of his support for Hamas and his stance on the Israel-Hamas war.Mandla Mandela could not travel to...More
JOHANNESBURG - The grandson of South Africa's first Black president, Nelson Mandela, said Friday the U.K. government denied him an entry visa because of his support for Hamas and his stance on the Israel-Hamas war.Mandla Mandela could not travel to the U.K. earlier this month to address pro-Palestinian gatherings in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow after he was informed that he would need a visa, despite holding a South African government passport that would ordinarily allow him visa-free entry.This week, however, the U.K. Home Office sent Mandela a letter informing him that his visa application had been denied because of his "support for Hamas," and because his presence in the UK was "not conducive to the public good".Mandela told the AP that he received the letter, dated Oct. 21, on Thursday."Your presence in the UK has been assessed as not conducive for the public good on the grounds that you have engaged in unacceptable behavior. You have made multiple statements which explicitly support Hamas and their terrorist violence, including glorifying the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and their recently deceased leader Ismail Haniyeh," states the letter, seen by The Associated Press
