Yahoo – AFP,
31 July 2015
London (AFP) - Britain's interior minister ordered officials Friday to grant Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei a six-month visa, reversing a decision to restrict him to a short trip that had prompted condemnation from rights groups.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said Britain had previously denied him a six-month visa and restricted him to a three-week visit (AFP Photo/Goh Chai Hin) |
London (AFP) - Britain's interior minister ordered officials Friday to grant Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei a six-month visa, reversing a decision to restrict him to a short trip that had prompted condemnation from rights groups.
Home
Secretary Theresa May "was not consulted over the decision to grant Mr Ai
a one-month visa", a spokeswoman for her department said.
"She
has reviewed the case and has now instructed Home Office officials to issue a
full six-month visa. We have written to Mr Ai apologising for the inconvenience
caused."
Campaigners
noted that the previous visa would have allowed Ai to attend an exhibition of
his work at London's Royal Academy from September but meant he would not be in
Britain for Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit in October.
Ai is
China's best known contemporary artist abroad but authorities denied him a
passport for four years in an apparent attempt to limit his international
influence.
After he
finally received his passport last week, Germany granted him a four-year
multiple entry visa but Ai said on Thursday that Britain had denied his request
for a six-month visa and restricted him to a three-week trip because he did not
declare a "criminal conviction".
Ai said he
had "never been charged or convicted of a crime".
Jigme Ugen,
head of a US-based Tibetan rights group, described the initial decision to
grant Ai a shorter visa as "purely a kowtow to Xi Jinping's London
visit".
Ai is
currently in Germany, where he has a six-year-old son.
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