CNN - Farrakhan rejects $250,000 from Libya until U.S. gives OK
Web posted at: 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT)
TRIPOLI, Libya (CNN) -- In a dramatic about-face, Louis Farrakhan told Libya he accepts the "honor" of a human rights award, but cannot accept the $250,000 that goes with the prize without the approval of a U.S. court.
"I will accept the honor of this prize but I will ask you to hold the monies until a decision is made by a (U.S.) court of law," Farrakhan told an enthusiastic audience in the Libyan capital.
The Nation of Islam leader had vowed earlier this week to "go across the nation" rallying support, if the government did not allow him to accept the prize.
But on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department denied Farrakhan's request that he be exempted from U.S. sanctions requiring banks under U.S. jurisdiction to freeze transactions relating to Libya.
If convicted of violating the sanctions -- or of conspiring to do so -- Farrakhan could have faced a prison sentence and fines.
Justifying its rejection of the request, the treasury agency said Libya has been on Washington's list of states that sponsor international terrorism since December 1979.
Libya is under U.N. sanctions, imposed in 1992, to force it to surrender two men wanted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people.
The U.S. has also sought to further isolate Tripoli with recent legislation that punishes non-U.S. companies with major investments in Libya.
Upbeat crowd greets Farrakhan
Wearing a dark suit and one of his signature bow ties -- this one red and yellow -- Farrakhan was escorted by his bodyguards to the awards ceremony at a five-star Tripoli hotel. Several thousand people clapped and chanted as the smiling Farrakhan received a green sash to wear across his suit and a bouquet of flowers.
The black Nation of Islam leader was to have received the $250,000 for the Gadhafi Human Rights Award -- as well as a $1 billion gift from Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi that Farrakhan said would go to form joint ventures with businesses and financial institutions to help blacks.
It was unclear whether he also would reject the $1 billion. Neither Gadhafi nor Farrakhan mentioned the money Friday.
This was not Farrakhan's first time in Libya.
Earlier this year, Farrakhan and Gadhafi discussed how to increase the influence of America's "oppressed minorities during this year's elections."
Gadhafi saw his cooperation with Farrakhan as "a loophole to enter the fortress and confront it from within" -- views that earned the Libyan leader few points in Washington.
"That kind of talk is not something we view positively at all," State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said.
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