A ban by the British government on the US black political leader Mr Louis Farrakhan entering the UK was condemned in the High Court in London today.
It was described as "an unlawful and disproportionate interference with his right to communicate freely with his followers and supporters in this country".
The controversial head of the Nation of Islam has been excluded from Britain since 1986 because successive Home Secretaries feared he would stir up racial unrest.
Today his lawyers challenged last November's decision of the-then Home Secretary Mr Jack Straw to maintain the ban - on the basis that 67-year-old Mr Farrakhan had expressed "anti-Semitic and racially divisive views" and that a visit by him at the present time would pose "an unwelcome and significant threat to community relations".
Mr Nicholas Blake QC, appearing for Mr Farrakhan, told the High Court he had been authorised by the Chicago-based black spiritual leader to express regret for things he had said in the past, although some may have been taken "somewhat out of context".
Mr Blake said: "He recognises the hurt some of his language has caused."
But Mr Farrakhan had now "moved on" and the present message he wished to bring to the UK to discuss and debate with both his followers and potential members in the black community concerned "self reliance, dignity and discipline".
Mr Blake described Mr Farrakhan as "an extremely prominent spiritual, religious and social leader and significant spokesperson in the black community in the USA".
Mr Blake told Mr Justice Turner the ban was an interference with his client's rights to freedom of expression under the Human Rights Act and common law.
He said it also interfered with the rights of those in the UK who were interested in hearing what Mr Farrakhan had to say on important issues "of value to the black American and black British community".
PA