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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080820/tap-as-vietnam-glitter-deportation-9a7ed42.html
Vietnam releases Gary Glitter from prison
By SUTIN WANNABOVORN,Associated Press Writer <CITE class=auth>AP - Wednesday, August 20</CITE>
BANGKOK, Thailand - British glam rocker Gary Glitter, who served nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for molesting children, has been denied entry into Thailand after failing to board a flight in Bangkok to London, a senior immigration official said Wednesday.
Police Maj. Gen. Phongdej Chaiprawat said Glitter was being confined to a transit lounge at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport before being flown out of the country. The general said he did not know the singer's next destination.
Another Thai immigration official at the airport said his department received a note from Vietnam and Interpol requesting that Glitter not be allowed entry into Thailand. The official spoke on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The convicted child molester was deported from Vietnam on Tuesday and flew to Bangkok en route to England after serving almost three years of a prison sentence for committing obscene acts with children.
"He refused to board the plane last night and now is being confined at the transit lounge. We will not allow him to enter the country," Phongdej told The Associated Press.
The general said that it was now the responsibility of Thai Airways International, the national carrier on which Glitter was flying, to fly him out of Thailand.
The immigration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Glitter refused to board the London-bound plane, complaining of an earache. Immigration officials, he said, gave the airline permission to take Glitter to an airport clinic where the doctor checked his complaint. He was then returned to the airport's transit area.
Lt. Gen. Chatchawal Suksomchit, the chief of Thailand's immigration police, said Glitter was denied entry into the country because under Thai immigration laws those convicted of child sex abuse in a foreign country can be barred.
"Officials concerned are working through the process of putting him on the plane to take him out of the country, but if he continues to refuse to leave then he will confined in the (airport transit) area temporarily before being taken into a detention center," he said.
Glitter, 64, was convicted in March 2006 of committing "obscene acts with children." He served two years and nine months of a three-year sentence, which was reduced for good behavior.
The incidents involved two girls, ages 10 and 11, from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.
In a recent interview with Vietnamese newspaper Cong An Nhan Dan (People's Police), Glitter said he was thinking about resuming his singing career and that he might move to Hong Kong or Singapore. His lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, has said he does not want to return to Britain.
In his 1970s heyday, Glitter performed in glittery jumpsuits, silver platform shoes and bouffant wigs. He sold 18 million records and recorded a string of British top-10 hits.
His most successful song, the crowd-pleasing anthem "Rock and Roll (Part 2)," cracked the top 10 in the United States.
Glitter's fall from grace began in 1997, when he brought his laptop computer to a repair shop and an employee there discovered he had downloaded thousands of hardcore pornographic images of children. Two years later, British authorities convicted him of possession of child pornography, and Glitter served half of his four-month jail term.
In November 2005, police in Vietnam launched a weeklong manhunt for Glitter after allegations arose that he had been molesting girls at his seaside villa in Vung Tau. He was arrested at the Ho Chi Minh City airport, where he was trying to board a flight to Bangkok.
He was convicted in March 2006. The court verdict said that Glitter had molested the girls repeatedly at his villa and in nearby hotels.
Although Glitter proclaimed his innocence, he was sentenced to three years in prison and given credit for time already served. His sentence was reduced by three months last year for good behavior during Vietnam's annual Lunar New Year prison amnesty.
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Vietnam releases Gary Glitter from prison
By SUTIN WANNABOVORN,Associated Press Writer <CITE class=auth>AP - Wednesday, August 20</CITE>
BANGKOK, Thailand - British glam rocker Gary Glitter, who served nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for molesting children, has been denied entry into Thailand after failing to board a flight in Bangkok to London, a senior immigration official said Wednesday.
Police Maj. Gen. Phongdej Chaiprawat said Glitter was being confined to a transit lounge at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport before being flown out of the country. The general said he did not know the singer's next destination.
Another Thai immigration official at the airport said his department received a note from Vietnam and Interpol requesting that Glitter not be allowed entry into Thailand. The official spoke on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The convicted child molester was deported from Vietnam on Tuesday and flew to Bangkok en route to England after serving almost three years of a prison sentence for committing obscene acts with children.
"He refused to board the plane last night and now is being confined at the transit lounge. We will not allow him to enter the country," Phongdej told The Associated Press.
The general said that it was now the responsibility of Thai Airways International, the national carrier on which Glitter was flying, to fly him out of Thailand.
The immigration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Glitter refused to board the London-bound plane, complaining of an earache. Immigration officials, he said, gave the airline permission to take Glitter to an airport clinic where the doctor checked his complaint. He was then returned to the airport's transit area.
Lt. Gen. Chatchawal Suksomchit, the chief of Thailand's immigration police, said Glitter was denied entry into the country because under Thai immigration laws those convicted of child sex abuse in a foreign country can be barred.
"Officials concerned are working through the process of putting him on the plane to take him out of the country, but if he continues to refuse to leave then he will confined in the (airport transit) area temporarily before being taken into a detention center," he said.
Glitter, 64, was convicted in March 2006 of committing "obscene acts with children." He served two years and nine months of a three-year sentence, which was reduced for good behavior.
The incidents involved two girls, ages 10 and 11, from the southern coastal city of Vung Tau.
In a recent interview with Vietnamese newspaper Cong An Nhan Dan (People's Police), Glitter said he was thinking about resuming his singing career and that he might move to Hong Kong or Singapore. His lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, has said he does not want to return to Britain.
In his 1970s heyday, Glitter performed in glittery jumpsuits, silver platform shoes and bouffant wigs. He sold 18 million records and recorded a string of British top-10 hits.
His most successful song, the crowd-pleasing anthem "Rock and Roll (Part 2)," cracked the top 10 in the United States.
Glitter's fall from grace began in 1997, when he brought his laptop computer to a repair shop and an employee there discovered he had downloaded thousands of hardcore pornographic images of children. Two years later, British authorities convicted him of possession of child pornography, and Glitter served half of his four-month jail term.
In November 2005, police in Vietnam launched a weeklong manhunt for Glitter after allegations arose that he had been molesting girls at his seaside villa in Vung Tau. He was arrested at the Ho Chi Minh City airport, where he was trying to board a flight to Bangkok.
He was convicted in March 2006. The court verdict said that Glitter had molested the girls repeatedly at his villa and in nearby hotels.
Although Glitter proclaimed his innocence, he was sentenced to three years in prison and given credit for time already served. His sentence was reduced by three months last year for good behavior during Vietnam's annual Lunar New Year prison amnesty.
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