Canada denies visa to Winnie Fundraising Trip

Special to the NNPA from GIN
(GIN)--Canada has denied a visa to South African anti-apartheid leader Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who was to be the keynote speaker at a fundraising gala in Toronto on Tuesday, featuring an opera about her life.

Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, was about to set out for the airport when the Canadian embassy notified her that she would not be allowed to enter the country, organizers of the Toronto event said.

In Ottawa, opposition Liberal Party Leader Stephane Dion called the visa refusal surprising.

"There have been problems in the past," Dion said of Madikizela-Mandela’s criminal convictions, but to prevent her from coming in the country, it is something that they need to justify."

In 1991, the former Mrs. Mandela was sentenced to six years in jail for her role in a kidnapping case. The sentence was reduced to a fine on appeal, but she was later convicted of fraud and theft charges.

Madikizela-Mandela, 73, was in New York two weeks ago to receive an award for her charity work in South Africa. "We didn’t dream that we would have a problem like this on our hands."

"The Passion of Winnie," a new opera based on Madikizela-Mandela’s life, is scheduled to be presented Friday as part of Toronto’s Luminato Festival.

Rapper headlining concert to draw attention to inequities in legal system

by Melanie Sims, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) _ Although a jury convicted Jose Padilla of supporting terrorism earlier this week, rapper-actor Mos Def thinks that Padilla may not have gotten the due process the criminal justice system promises.

"We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress _ at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation, a new consideration for facts, and just the truth--basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

"(It’s) the climate that we live in, people’s rights and liberties being taken advantage of the whole situation with Jose Padilla," he said. "Basically the state being able to just charge any individual with anything and prosecute them on the basis of that."

Mos Def is hoping to draw attention to what he sees as inequities in the United States' criminal justice system this weekend with the 10th annual "Black August" benefit concert at The Nokia Theater in New York City. Other performers include socially minded rappers such as Talib Kweli and Dead Prez, and rapper Saigon.

"It’s so interesting how people are doing all this international philanthropic work, but this is real philanthropy--freeing innocent people, clearing their name or calling this system into account for how it responds to the truth. These people are telling the truth," said Mos Def.

Padilla, a Chicago resident, was convicted earlier this week along with two defendants of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas.

The three were accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists.
The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.