Canada Bars U.S. Extremist Pastor Terry Jones
Notorious U.S. pastor Terry Jones said Thursday he has been barred from entering Canada after an anti-Islam video he backs triggered violent protests across the Muslim world.
Jones, who sparked deadly demonstrations in the past with plans for a public Koran burning, had been due to speak at a rally in Toronto about "Innocence of Muslims," an Internet film made on U.S. soil that denigrates Islam and its Prophet Mohammed.
"Definitely, the concern was... that rally we were to attend and speak at," Jones, who has suggested the provocative low-budget production was not intended to insult Muslims, told CBC News.
The Florida pastor said the Canada Border Services Agency had made him go through a secondary inspection, involving questioning and a vehicle search, after he arrived at a border post.
He was then held there for several hours during which Jones said the CBSA cited a previous bond infraction in the United States and a disputed honorary doctorate in Germany as reasons to keep him from entering the country.
"The reasons are pretty bogus in our opinion," he added.
Organizers told CBC that the event, titled "Canadians united against terror" and held on the lawn of the Ontario legislature, would go ahead without Jones.
The CBSA declined to comment on the matter.
However, it recalled that "admissibility of all travelers seeking to enter Canada is considered on a case-by-case basis based on the specific facts presented by the applicant at the time of entry."
"Planning to attend an event in Canada is not itself grounds for being inadmissible," the CBSA added in a statement.
Last month, Germany barred Jones from entering the country, saying after a far-right group planned to invite him that his visit would be contrary to the "interest in maintaining public order."
Source: Agence France Presse
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