Former Welsh language activist refused visa to USA

Mr Arfon Gwilym, a performer at last year's Lorient Festival, has been refused a visa to enter the USA to represent Wales at the Smithsonian Institute's cultural festival in Washington next week.

This is because Mr Gwilym, who is 58 and lives near Caernarfon, was imprisoned three times – the longest being for three months – for his Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) activities between 1969 and 1973.

He had taken part in the society's campaigns for bilingual road signs, a Welsh television channel and the campaign against second homes by English people in Wales.

Mr Gwilym had been invited by the Americans to take part in the festival, but the US Embassy in London refused his application for a visa on the grounds of “moral turpitude” because he has a criminal record.

In Britain, every offence that Mr Gwilym had committed, is regarded as “spent”, since they happened so long ago and he is seen as having a clean record. But a spokesman for the American Embassy says that a “spent conviction” is not recognised in the US.

Mr Gwilym has appealed personally to President Barrack Obama. “After September 11 I can understand the concern for safety in your country, and I can understand also why you do not wish to see murderers and rapists enter your country,” he wrote in his email.

“May respectfully suggest that you would not be in your present position were it not for the great battle for civil rights in your country when it was necessary to break the law in order to succeed. Can you imaging Martin Luther King and other civil rights campaigners being refused entry into Britain for 'moral turpitude'?”

Arfon Gwilym, as well as being a distinguished performer, is the director of the Gwynn Music Publishers and the author and editor of books on Welsh folk music.

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Late last Friday, Mr Gwilym received an e-mail from the American Embassy with the news that an appeal had been made on his behalf and that he was being granted a "one-visit" visa.

"I was told to contact a courier immediately to deliver the visa to my home. This I did, but they were unable to do anything until the following day. As a result it was too late for me to travel," he said.

"It would still have been an unsatisfactory solution, because it would have meant that I would never be allowed to travel to the US again. The injustice would have remained."

"I have no idea who made the appeal on my behalf, but this case raises some disturbing questions. Over the years about 2000 people have broken the law in the various Welsh language campaigns. Are all these people now barred from entering the USA?"