Visas

Earl of Clancarty Excerpts
Thursday 18th November 2010

(14 years, 1 month ago)

Lords Chamber
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Earl Attlee Portrait Earl Attlee
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My Lords, we are obviously extremely concerned about these developments and we will be monitoring the situation very carefully.

Earl of Clancarty Portrait The Earl of Clancarty
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My Lords, will not this Government see fit to make a proper public apology to the great Iranian film maker, Abbas Kiarostami, for the humiliating treatment he received in Tehran last year, when he tried, but failed, to obtain a visa to come here to direct the English National Opera, caught out as he was by immigration rules that are doing enormous cultural damage to this country?

Earl Attlee Portrait Earl Attlee
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My Lords, I believe that this happened under the previous Administration. I am not aware of the case, but I shall write to the noble Earl.