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UPDATE 1/20/2016: According to TMZ, Yasiin Bey has been charged with using a false passport and travel document, and with illegally helping his family stay in South Africa. He is currently out on bail but with a court date set for March 8. His family, however, has until January 28 to leave the country.
UPDATE 1/15/2016: A representative for Bey claims the allegations are wrong, and that “the South African government has previously accepted the World Passport to enter the country and to provide visas as recently as August.” The rep also claims Bey was detains for “two nights at least.”
Details in the case are still murky, but Yasiin Bey was arrested in Cape Town, South Africa earlier today for possession of a fake passport. Bey was taken into custody after attempting to travel with a “world passport” that is currently unrecognized by airlines, according to the New York Daily News.
The rapper formerly known as Mos Def has been given 14 days to leave the country. He’ll appear in court this afternoon to ask for leniency—if upheld, the charge would bar Bey from South Africa for five years.
He arrived in South Africa in 2013 and hasn’t been allowed back in the U.S. since, for reasons described as “legal/immigration issues.”
