Busta Rhymes wins court battle

American rap star Busta Rhymes today won his British High Court battle for the right to perform at a charity concert tonight.

Rhymes, real name Trevor George Smith Jr, was refused permission to enter the UK at London City Airport yesterday morning because of criminal convictions in the US.

The 36-year-old rapper is performing tonight at the Orange RockCorps gig at the Royal Albert Hall.

The concert was due to start at 7-7.30pm and this afternoon Rhymes won his race against time to get the legal all-clear to perform.

Mr Justice Stadlen, sitting at London's High Court, continued an injunction preventing his removal from the UK.

The injunction gives him the opportunity to challenge the decision by immigration authorities to deny his entry and paved the way for him to perform.

The Judge emphasised the extraordinary nature of the case and stressed that he was acting so as not to disappoint the thousands of fans who, even as he was giving his judgment, were heading to the Royal Albert Hall.

Rhymes, who has already been allowed entry to the UK twice this year, in May and August, has a valid work permit for tonight's concert.

He is due to perform before 4,000-5,000 charity volunteers who agreed to work four hours for community projects on the understanding that they would see Rhymes in action.

Amanda Weston, appearing for Rhymes, argued that not allowing the rapper to perform tonight could fatally undermine what was proving to be a highly successful scheme to encourage young people into charity work.

But Jeremy Johnson, appearing for the Home Office, argued that if he did appear it could undermine and thwart Government immigration rules.

The judge said he had to perform a balancing exercise.

He said Rhymes was entitled to seek judicial review on the grounds that it was arguable that the decision to refuse him entry to the UK was unreasonable, and may have been based on a misapprehension that he was involved in gang violence.

The judge stressed it was also possible that the exclusion decision might have been properly made, but Rhymes was entitled to a full court hearing at a later date.

Despite opposition from the Home Office lawyers, the judge also decided to continue the injunction granted by a High Court judge yesterday preventing Rhymes' removal pending the full hearing.

Mr Johnson had argued that the rapper should return to America and follow normal immigration rules by challenging the refusal of entry from outside the UK.

Rejecting his submissions, the judge said: "What weighs in the balance is not just what effect that would have on Mr Smith (Rhymes), to which I pay considerably less regard than the effect on the 4,000 volunteers who would be disappointed if he didn't perform this evening."

The judge said he was also concerned with the knock-on adverse effect such a decision could have on the whole RockCorps project, which was seeking to engage young people who might otherwise take "a negative approach to life".

He ruled: "In my judgment, the balance of convenience plainly lies in favour of the injunction being maintained."

During today's complex legal hearing, the court heard how Rhymes was kept in a small room with five armed police officers after arriving at City Airport at 7.26am yesterday morning for his brief stay to attend the gig.

He was held on the basis that he had "unresolved convictions in the USA" and refused entry to the UK.

The rapper's legal team said they were first met at the plane by five armed officers, and that a total of 15 armed officers were involved in his detention at various stages.

That was denied in court today by the immigration authorities.

At 8.58pm his legal team obtained an injunction from Mr Justice Flaux preventing him from being removed from the country while they applied for his release and permission to seek judicial review.

Yesterday evening the same judge, sitting at London's High Court, granted an injunction allowing Rhymes bail and letting him stay at his hotel.

Today his lawyers formally applied for, and were granted, permission to seek judicial review after the court heard of dramatic developments which occurred last night after the rapper was granted bail.

Mr Justice Stadlen said the immigration authorities had originally decided to exclude Rhymes on the basis of convictions for a second degree gang assault, and an assault with intent to cause serious physical injury.

But it had since emerged that Rhymes had been convicted of neither of those offences - and a fresh decision was taken by a senior immigration officer last night to exclude him on the basis of the entirely different conviction of having a machete in his possession.

Ms Weston argued today that the decision was "absurd and perverse", saying the machete was used as a prop in his stage show and had been found on the passenger seat of his car.

She said the decision to exclude Rhymes had been made at "a higher level" and was based on the misapprehension of the immigration authorities that he was "a serious criminal", when there was no evidence to support the suspicion.

Ms Weston said the fact that armed police officers met his plane supported her argument that this was the case.

Mr Johnson disputed the fact that armed officers had met the plane and said the machete conviction was itself enough to justify the decision not to allow Rhymes into the country.

Both sides will now be putting together further evidence on these issues for the forthcoming application for judicial review.