LONDON—The British government’s decision to extend indefinitely a ban on the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan was termed "a ruse" by activists and supporters of the outspoken Muslim leader.

Home Secretary Jack Straw made the announcement July 23 after a year-long review, dispelling notions that the government might revoke the 12-year-old exclusion order barring Min. Farrakhan from visiting the United Kingdom.

Restating the well-worn government position, Mr. Straw said the ban on Min. Farrakhan has to stay because the Minister’s "presence in the United Kingdom would not be conducive to public good for reasons of race relations and the maintenance of public order." He did not explain what he meant.

His lack of explanation has, however, enraged many Black activists and community leaders who have campaigned hard in the last 18 months to get the unjust ban lifted.

They described the "review" exercise as a ruse, designed to give the impression that anti-ban efforts by Benie Grant, president of UK African Reparation Committee; the Nation of Islam; Operation Farrakhan Campaign; the Black press, and other input from the Black community were taken into account before the government reached its decision.

In his reaction to the latest government action, Min. Hilary Muhammad, the Nation of Islam UK coordinating minister, in an interview with The Final Call July 26, said the ban amounts to a religious persecution of members of the Nation of Islam in London.

"The fact is that they (British authorities) know who the Honorable Minister Farrakhan is—a carefully prepared man from Almighty God Himself. And (I suspect) they will stop at nothing to prevent Black people in England from hearing from a man who has the power from Allah (God) to redeem them," he added.

The minister of Muhammad Mosque No. 1C said the government’s cavalier decision is akin to "sentencing Black people in England to spiritual death by preventing our light (Min. Farrakhan) to shine among us." Their unjust decision should not be allowed to stand, he said.

Observers who say the Nation of Islam will triumph in its legal campaign cited the recent crushing by a British court of a similar exclusion order on Rev. Sung Yung Moon of the Unitarian Church.