Michael Savage To Sue HS Jacqui Smith

May 6. 2009

Michael Savage

Conservative radio host and co-founder of the Rock Star energy drink, Michael Savage, has hired several lawyers with the intent of suing British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for defamation. I do think she has overstepped the mark in his case.

Public feedback is largely leaning towards his side for the dangerous precedent she has set.  Even lawyers in Britain have weighed in on the subject stating he has a very strong case against her.

Though she does work for the government and in that, represents the country, Savage should hold off on a boycott of all things British, as many Britons do not agree with her decision and have nothing to do with it. British lawyers are suggesting he sue her and not the government, over inclusion on the list.

The list has been labeled hasty and presumptuous by British and international papers, as none of the individuals banned showed any intent of visiting Britain.

I do agree that many on the list should be banned. However, individuals like Savage and the Phelps, should not be barred from Britain, as they are not felons, terrorists at large or individuals calling for Jihad.

I am a Christian, but I do not hold the same views as the Phelps father and daughter, as I do believe people should be able to bury their loved ones in peace. They also should not label gays "f*gs."

However, until they are labeled felons by a court of law, banning them from Britain for regularly engaging in ill-timed, insensitive protests in other places, is premature and without real international legal foundation.

In the international community, the accepted standard is banning felons from visiting other countries, not outspoken people that have not been convicted of a crime.

Shock jock Michael Savage and others on UK ban list had not applied for entry

 May 6, 2009 - A majority of the people who were named by the Home Office as being banned from entering the country have never sought to travel to Britain, it emerged today.

Two of the 16 people named by Jacqui Smith as excluded from Britain are in prison in Russia where they are serving 20-year sentences.

The disclosure came as a US talk-show host said that he would sue the Government for defamation after being placed on the list...

He told his radio audience in the US that he intended to sue Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who he described as the “lunatic... Home Secretary of England”.

He said: “To link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in league with Hamas murderers who kill people on buses is defamation.”...

A leading media lawyer said today that lawyers would be “falling over themselves” to offer their services.

Mark Stephens, of the London law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said: “He would seem to have a very good case. The people on the list who have been banned are supposed to be advocating extreme violence and so to put him into that category is clearly defamatory.

“His views, such as those on homosexuals, may be offensive but that is another thing entirely. The Home Secretary appears not to have appreciated the difference between tolerance and defamation.”

Mr Stephens added that he thought that Mr Weiner could hope to obtain about £200,000 in damages, adding that this should be paid by the Home Secretary personally, not by the Government...

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “Blacklisting people without consideration of why and when they want to enter the country merely risks turning them into martyrs for their cause.

“It would be more appropriate to consider each case when it arises to assess whether British law is likely to be broken if the individual is admitted.” ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk