List of people declared persona non grata

This is a list of people declared personae non grata. Persona non grata (Latin, plural: personae non gratae), literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a foreign person entering or remaining in the country. It is the most serious form of censure that one country can apply to foreign diplomats, who are otherwise protected by diplomatic immunity from arrest and other normal kinds of prosecution.

Kurt Waldheim

George F. Kennan

Mario Vargas Llosa

Carl Bildt

Jörg Haider

Philip Goldberg

George Galloway

László Sólyom

Günter Grass

Montserrat Caballé

Mariano Rajoy

• The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 included the list of 150 personae non gratae of Turkey, which forbade the entry of mainly a group of former Ottoman Empire officials and about 100 other persons to Turkey, until the lifting of this status in 1938.
• Chiune Sugihara, who helped several thousand Jews in Lithuania in the 1940s, was declared persona non grata by the Soviet Union in 1947.
• Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain was obliged to leave Italy in 1942 having become persona non grata to the Italian government. According to Harold Tittmann, a US representative at the Vatican at the time, this was due to her "ill-disguised leanings to the Allied cause." ^[1]
• Harald Edelstam, Swedish ambassador to Chile, was declared persona non grata for his efforts to hide and assist members of the opposition facing persecution by the Chilean junta of 1973-90, including occupying the Embassy of Cuba in Santiago, containing hundreds of refugees, and declaring it Swedish soil.
• Kurt Waldheim, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and President of Austria, and his wife were given persona non grata status in the US and other countries when he was accused of having known about Nazi war crimes and not having done anything about them.^[2]
• In September 1952, the American Ambassador to the Soviet Union, George F. Kennan, was declared persona non grata after making a statement which the Soviets believed linked them to Nazi Germany. The Soviets refused to allow Kennan to reenter the Soviet Union.^[3]
• In March 1976, Herbert Spiro, the United States Ambassador to Cameroon, also accredited to Equatorial Guinea, was declared persona non grata by Equatorial Guinea. At the end of a visit to the country which he described as pleasant and uneventful up to that point, Equatoguinean Deputy Protocol Director Santiago Nchama handed him a letter accusing the US government of engaging in subversive activities there, and days later, Equatorial Guinea's foreign ministry sent a telegram to the State Department announcing that Spiro and Consul William C. Mithoefer Jr, who had accompanied him on his visit, were both barred from the country.^[4]
• In April 1979, the Central Intelligence Agency's expert on Iran, George W. Cave, was declared persona non grata by the Iranian government.^[5]
• In the 1990s, Mario Vargas Llosa, who would later receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, was "persona non grata in Peru, discredited and insulted in the official press" of Alberto Fujimori's regime. According to Ilan Stavans, "Peruvians have made it a sport to hate Vargas Llosa."^[6]
• In 1995, Croatia declared Carl Bildt persona non grata announcing that he had "lost the credibility necessary for the role of a peace mediator". Bildt had suggested that the President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman was as guilty of war crimes as the Krajina Serb leader, Milan Martić.^[7]
• In 1998, actress Claire Danes, after the shooting for the film Brokedown Palace was completed, was labeled persona non grata by the Philippine government after she commented in Vogue that Manila was a "ghastly and weird city".^[8][9]
• In 2000, Israel declared Austrian politician Jörg Haider persona non grata following the Austrian legislative election of 1999, since his right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) was a member of the Austrian coalition government.^[10]
• On February 19, 2000, the United States declared Jose Imperatori—a vice consul assigned to the Cuban interests section of the Swiss embassy--persona non grata. Imperatori was accused of acting as an intermediary to assist Mariano Faget in his alleged spying activities. Imperatori refused to leave and was eventually physically expelled on February 26, 2000.^[11]
• In 2007, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands House of Representatives voted Saipan resident and US citizen Ron Hodges persona non grata by resolution.^[12] Hodges was castigated for his letter writing campaign critical of CNMI governance and abuses against alien workers, entitled Chamberonomics.^[13] His letters supported a US takeover of CNMI labor and immigration. Labor and human abuses in the CNMI garment industry had long been the subject of international criticism. The resolution's validity hinged on the question of CNMI sovereignty, but was never enforced and became moot after President Bush signed PL-2739^[14] into law, thus federalizing CNMI labor and immigration.^[15]
• In 2008, President of Bolivia Evo Morales declared US Ambassador Philip Goldberg persona non grata, claiming that the US government conspired against him and supported his opponents.^[16]
• Soon after Bolivia's expulsion of Goldberg, President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez declared US Ambassador Patrick Duddy persona non grata in solidarity with Morales' action. Chavez did not cite any specific alleged infractions by Duddy.
• In October 2008 Serbia expelled ambassadors of Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia^[17] after these countries recognized the independence of Kosovo. In November 2008 Serbia also expelled the ambassador from Malaysia^[18] after Malaysia recognized Kosovo's independence.
• In 2008 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel declared American Richard A. Falk, Princeton University professor emeritus of international law, persona non grata^[19] when he was the United Nations Human Rights Council's United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967."^[20] Stating this was because Falk previously had compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to Nazi treatment of Jews,^[21][22][23] Israel barred him in May 2008^[24][25] and December 2008.^[26][27] As of March 2011, Falk was still banned from Israel.^[28]
• On December 23, 2008, Fiji followed through on a threat to expel New Zealand's high commissioner to the island nation. The expulsion came a day after the interim Prime Minister of Fiji announced he would not expel New Zealand's top diplomat because he wanted to improve his relationship with New Zealand. In retaliation to the expulsion, New Zealand declared Fiji's High Commissioner in Wellington persona non grata as Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key had stated the day before that there would be retaliatory action if its commissioner was expelled.^[29]
• In January 2009, following Venezuela expelling Israeli diplomats due to Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israel ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country, declaring them personae non gratae in Israel.^[30]
• In March 2009, President Evo Morales of Bolivia declared a member of the US embassy (political division) persona non grata.^[31]
• On April 8, 2009, President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin declared Romanian Ambassador Filip Teodorescu and Councilor-Minister Ioan Gaborean personae non gratae, claiming that "their activity was inconsistent with their diplomatic status"^[32][33] after the Moldovan flag on the Parliament building was torn down and replaced with Romanian and EU flags during post-election riots in Moldova.
• On May 20, 2009, American actor Alec Baldwin was declared persona non grata by the Philippine government after an appearance in an episode of the Late Show with David Letterman, where he joked about availing a "Filipino or Russian mail-order bride". Philippine senator and actor Ramon Revilla Jr. said his (Baldwin's) wife would be "unlucky" and that "there will be trouble" if Alec Baldwin were to travel to the country.^[34]
• On June 8, 2009, Russia declared Finnish diplomat Simo Pietiläinen persona non grata, due to a controversial action by Pietiläinen where he smuggled Anton Salonen out of Russia following a long custody dispute between his Finnish father and Russian born lover.^[35]
• On August 21, 2009, Slovakia declared Hungarian President László Sólyom persona non grata (the Latin term was not used, only "unwelcome person", and he was not allowed to cross the border), on the day when the president had been due to unveil a statue of Saint Stephen of Hungary in Komárno. The date is the next day after the Hungarian national holiday celebrating the saint king. The main reason of the ban was that this date is also the day of the anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in which Hungary's armed forces also took part in order to crush the Prague Spring of 1968. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has also expressed his concerns that the president "attempted to stress the Hungarian statehood on sovereign Slovak soil".^[36][37]
• On November 3, 2009, the Prime Minister of Fiji declared Australian and New Zealand diplomats to Fiji personae non gratae. In response, one day later the Australian and New Zealand Governments declared the respective Fijian Representatives personae non gratae and they were given 24 hours to depart the country. The move came as international tension between Fiji and Australia/New Zealand intensified following a decision by Fijian Prime Minister – Commodore Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama's decision to indefinitely delay elections in the country.
• On January 8, 2010, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry declared Respect Party politician George Galloway persona non grata after he attempted to take 200 aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, along with international activists. He was subsequently deported from Egypt back to the UK.^[38]
• In October 2010, Italian singer Al Bano was included in the list of personae non gratae in Azerbaijan due to visiting Nagorno Karabakh without the permission of Azerbaijan.^[39]
• On March 11, 2011, American real-estate tycoon and President-elect, Donald Trump, was declared "persona non grata" by Panama City's Municipal Council, following an interview with Trump in which he stated that the United States was "stupid" to "give away the Panama Canal for nothing."^[40]
• On March 30, 2011, The Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs declared three Iranian diplomats, including the Ambassador, personae non gratae for allegedly spying. Upon orders from His Highness the Emir of Kuwait, the deputy prime minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs expelled the high ranking Iranian diplomats.^[41]
• On April 5, 2011, the Ecuador Ministry declared US Ambassador Heather Hodges persona non grata after she did not provide sufficient answers about a leaked diplomatic cable related to Ecuador. In retaliation the US declared the Ecuadorean Ambassador Luis Gallegos persona non grata on April 7, 2011.^[42]
• On April 27, 2011, Malawi declared British High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet persona non grata a week after a diplomatic cable had been leaked in which Cochrane-Dyet stated that Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika was "becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism".^[43][44]
• On May 1, 2011, the Libyan ambassador to the United Kingdom, Omar Jelban, was given 24 hours to leave the country after Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was persona non grata. The expulsion was in response to attacks on British embassy premises in Tripoli following the death of Colonel Gaddafi's son in a NATO air strike.^[45]
• On May 6, 2011, France declared 14 former Libyan diplomats in Paris to be personae non gratae because of "conduct and activities that are not compatible with the UN resolutions, particularly resolution 1973" and "going against the protection of Libyan civilians".^[46]
• On May 19, 2011, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Israel's military attaché to Moscow Col. Vadim Leiderman was declared persona non grata after being caught receiving secret information from a Russian citizen.^[47]
• On January 6, 2012, the United States notified the Venezuelan government of the declaration of Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta Noguera persona non grata and demanded that she leave the United States by January 10, 2012. The declaration was announced by the United States on January 8, and came after an FBI investigation into allegations reported in a Univision documentary. The documentary purported that several diplomats from various countries, including Venezuela, Iran and Cuba were seeking information to commit cyberattacks on United States facilities and had been in contact with a group posing as Mexican hackers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.^[48][49]
• On April 8, 2012, Israel declared German poet Günter Grass, recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature, persona non grata^[50] because of his poem "What Must Be Said", which warned that Israel threatened an "already fragile world peace".^[51]
• On May 29, 2012, in response to the May 25, 2012 Houla massacre in Syria, the French government declared Syrian Ambassador Lamia Shakkour, and two other embassy officials, personae non gratae. The Syrian ambassador to the Netherlands was also declared persona non grata by Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal.^[52]
• On September 7, 2012, the Canadian government declared all Iranian diplomats in Canada personae non gratae. The Canadian embassy in Tehran also was closed.^[53]

• On May 14, 2013, Russia's Foreign Ministry declared Ryan Fogle, third secretary of the Political Department of the US Embassy in Moscow, persona non grata. He was caught allegedly trying to recruit a Russian special services staff member and accused of being a CIA agent.^[54] On May 17, FSB revealed the identity of the CIA Station Chief as Steven Hall in further retaliation.^[55][56]
• In June 2013, Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé was included in a list of personae non gratae in Azerbaijan for visiting of Nagorno Karabakh without permission of Azerbaijan.^[39][57]
• On July 6, 2013, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration prevented Dutch activist Thomas van Beersum from leaving the Philippines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Thomas van Beersum participated in a political rally against the Philippine government during President Benigno Aquino III's State of the Nation Address. Van Beersum gained the attention of the media when a photo of him berating a police officer into tears went viral on the internet which sparked the outrage of Filipino netizens. Van Beersum went to the Philippines using a tourist visa. The Dutch activist was deported on August 7 due to “overstaying” and “for engaging in partisan political activity” and was blacklisted as persona non grata.^[58][59]
• On November 23, 2013, Egypt declared the Turkish ambassador Huseyin Avni Botsali persona non grata due to criticisms made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the overthrowing of Mohamed Morsi as President of Egypt.^[60]
• On July 7, 2014, the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Bahrain demanded the immediate departure of Tom Malinowski, US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The state news organization, BNA, reported that Malinowski had "held meetings with a particular party to the detriment of other interlocutors, thus discriminating between one people, contravening diplomatic norms and flouting normal interstate relations," and was thus declared persona non grata.^[61]
• In December 2014, the Government of Estonia declared Italian journalist Giulietto Chiesa persona non grata. Chiesa was a former Member of the European Parliament who had belonged to the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and had run as a candidate for the Latvian Russian Union. He had been due to speak at a conference on Europe and Russia relations which the Estonian security services believed to be a front for Russia's foreign intelligence services. He entered Estonia for the conference and was arrested in Tallinn and deported.^[62]
• In October 2015, the government of Eritrea declared historian Michela Wrong (I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation), novelist Hannah Pool (My Father's Daughter) and short story writer Jacob M. Appel (Scouting for the Reaper) personae non gratae for their criticism of the regime of Isaias Afewerki.^[63]
• In November 2015, Miss World contestant Anastasia Lin by China "apparently because of her outspoken advocacy for human rights and religious freedom in China." China, however, has given no official reason for declaring her persona non grata.^[64]
• In February 2016, Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister of Spain was declared 'persona non grata' by the Plenary Session of Pontevedra, his adopted city, due to the renewal of the license to the cellulose factory located in Pontevedra for a period of 60 years more, approved by his conservative Partido Popular (People's Party).^[65]
• On August 31, 2016, Donald Trump, President-Elect of the United States of America was declared 'persona non grata' by the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District of Mexico, in response to his position on expanding the Mexico–United States barrier. However, this resolution is non-binding^[66] and does not prohibit Trump from entering the country of Mexico or Mexico City.^[67]
• On October 27, 2016, A Pakistani diplomat in India, Mehmood Akhtar,^[68] was arrested for a short while before being declared 'persona non grata' by the Indian foreign secretary for 'espionage'. This action came from the Indian government amid increasing tensions between both the countries including cross border attacks with civilian and military casualties being report by both the sides.^[69]
• On October 27, 2016, The Pakistani foreign secretary summoned an Indian envoy, Surjeet Singh and informed him of his expulsion from the country. The Indian diplomat was declared persona non grata, shortly after the Indian government detained a Pakistani diplomat before expelling him. Surjeet Singh was also questioned about the violation of the Vienna Convention by the Indian government while it detained a foreign envoy. These actions highly stressed the diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan.^[70]

See also

• persona non grata
• List of people declared personae non gratae in Azerbaijan

References