MAY 30: The Rape Crisis Centre of Glasgow has won a court hearing on its bid to prevent Mike Tyson from fighting in Scotland, the Home Office said on Tuesday. The hearing was set for Friday at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.Tyson was granted permission to enter Britain, despite his rape conviction, to fight Lou Savarese in Glasgow's Hampden Park Soccer Stadium on June 24.Straw had previously permitted Tyson to fight Julius Francis in Manchester in January. At a court hearing on Monday, when the appeal was granted, the Rape Crisis Center argued that Straw erred in granting Tyson permission to enter without first hearing arguments from opponents. The group said Straw had privately met supporters of Tyson.Because there was controversy about the previous fight, the Rape Crisis Centre said it was unreasonable for Straw to have decided so quickly to permit the second fight.British law bars entry to anyone who has served a jail sentence of a year or more. But Straw cited `exceptional circumstances in the case in allowing Tyson to enter for the January fight. The American served three years for a rape conviction.In granting Tyson permission to enter again, Straw said the boxer didn't misbehave on his previous visit, that his fights offered strong commercial benefits and that banning him would harm Britain's reputation for staging major Sports events.
