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Judge confirms evangelist deportation

William Lee to be expelled for 'flouting visa rules', admitted preaching at event
Judge confirms evangelist deportation
Published: October 19, 2011 07:56 AM GMT
Updated: October 20, 2011 06:05 AM GMT

A district magistrate in Kerala sentenced American evangelist William Lee to three days jail and ordered his deportation yesterday for violating the conditions of his tourist visa. Judge A Ijas of the Ernakulam magistrate's court also slapped a fine of 10,000 rupees (US$ 205) on Lee after he admitted to having preached at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Kaloor in an event organized by the Thiruvalla-based Pentecostal group, Faith Leaders. Visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from holding religious propagation meetings. The US evangelist told the court he has been visiting Kerala since 1998 but had never knowingly committed any offence. The magistrate said as Lee had already served three-days in jail following his arrest, he should be deported immediately. Kochi police commissioner, AR Ajithkumar, said Lee would be deported later today. “All the formalities have been completed for his deportation. He will be blacklisted and not allowed to visit India [again].” Lee, founder of the Tennessee-based Lee Ministry International, had been warned that tourist visa regulations prevented him from holding religious propagation meetings, according to a police official. But he chose to ignore our warnings so he was arrested, he said After his arrest on October 15, he was remanded in custody for three days but later complained of chest pains and was moved to hospital for observation before yesterday’s hearing. His detention sparked an outcry among some Christian circles with the Global Council of Indian Christians, condemning Lee’s “selective arrest.” “The moral policing, sectarian violence and the selective arrest of Christian evangelists, demonstrate very clearly a failure of secular institutions in India,” it said in a press release after Lee’s arrest and which was posted on the Christian Persecution Update India website.

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