AN artist-in-residence at this year’s Wigtown Book Festival has been barred entry to the UK, it has emerged.
With just one day until the annual literary event, organisers have condemned the Home Office for refusing entry to storyteller Mehdi El Ghaly.
The Moroccan has been working with Scottish counterparts Anne Errington and Laura Hudson Mackay on Confluence, which explores and compares traditions between the two countries.
The project was designed as an artistic exchange, with Errington and Hudson Mackay set to be welcomed to Morocco.
El Ghaly, who had secured a fully-funded residency at the annual event, had been working with Moroccan photographer Houssain Belabbes on material “about humanity”. The book festival was to see Arabian and Celtic stories told to audiences, with material gathered from festivalgoers to create new tales.
However, the Dumfries and Galloway sessions will have to go ahead without El Ghaly after he was denied a visa permit.
The decision follows similar refusals to artists booked for Edinburgh’s international festivals in August.
Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst cancelled her performance after Syrian bandmates were knocked back, while Iranian children’s book illustrator Ehsan Abdollahi was also refused permission to attend the city’s book festival. This decision, however, was overturned after public outcry.
Joyce Woodcock, of the Upland Arts Agency, which is funding Confluence, said the latest block is “deeply unfortunate... at a time of international tensions when there is a greater need to build bridges between countries and cultures”.
Organisers of the Wigtown event, which runs until October 1, have appealed to Scottish Secretary David Mundell and local Tory MP Alister Jack to intervene on El Ghady’s behalf.
Adrian Turpin, the festival’s artistic director, said: “It is disappointing and frustrating that a respected young storyteller involved in a long-running arts project designed to bring people together should be denied a visa to attend an international festival.
“We are calling on the region’s MPs and MSPs to make representations to the Home Office, whose decision mars the country’s reputation for intellectual openness and exchange.”
The Scotland Office declined to comment when approached by The National.
However, the Home Office said El Ghaly is entitled to submit a fresh application.
A spokesperson said: “All UK visa applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with UK immigration rules and guidance.
“Applicants for visit visas must provide evidence of their financial circumstances and how they intend to support themselves during their trip, where they fail to do so their applications will be refused.”
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