LONDON: Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik barred from the UK by the British government has taken his highly expensive legal battle to the Court of Appeals and in the process has applied for ‘leave to appeal’.
Naik was banned in June this year by the Home Secretary Theresa May just before his arrival in the UK to address thousands of his mainly Pakistani and Bangladeshi followers at three venues across three British cities. May slapped ban on the cleric, who is understood to have vast media and commercial interests in Britain through various organisations he is affiliated with, for the cleric’s support for Osama Bin Laden and preaching of a violent version of Islam.
On Monday, Zakir Naik’s legal team lodged papers against last month’s High Court ruling and promised to go all the way to European Court of Human Rights if necessary for his right of “freedom of expression.”
Dr Naik has hired a leading specialist solicitor and two QCs from Cherie Booth’s Matrix Chambers. The News has been told that the court papers accuse May of “failing to properly consider, or state what she made of, or explain why she ultimately rejected the advice provided by skilled advisers relating to counter-terrorism, ‘Prevent’ and community advice.