World Passport
In 1979 the World Passport was a 42-page document, with a dark blue cover, and text in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Esperanto.
[9][10] Success in crossing a border using a World Passport is generally attributable to the whim or ignorance of individual immigration officers, not official recognition of the document.
[13][14][non-primary source needed] The World Passport came under increased international scrutiny in 1996, after the hijacking of the MS Achille Lauro.
In the aftermath of the incident, one of the captured hijackers, Youssef Majed al-Molqi, escaped imprisonment in Italy and used a World Passport which he had purchased in 1988 to leave the country and travel to Spain before he was recaptured.
By 1975, Garry Davis had already been detained twenty times for his attempts to cross international borders with a World Passport.
As early as 1991, the US Air Transport Association specifically included the World Passport in a training film as an example of unacceptable travel papers.
[23] In 2012, a Belizean man attempted to enter the U.S. through the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates using a World Passport.
The man in question had prior felony convictions for drug trafficking and immigration offences, and had previously been deported from the United States multiple times.
In a bench trial, Judge Andrew S. Hanen found the man guilty of felony attempted re-entry after deportation.
[2] In February 2013, both Panama and Costa Rica rejected the use of the World Passport by Sage Million, a fugitive from Hawaii.
[31] Hip-hop artist and actor Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) was arrested in South Africa on January 15, 2016 for attempting to leave the country using a World Passport.
South Africa's Department of Home Affairs released a statement saying that Mr. Bey would be allowed to appeal the immigration action and possibly seek permanent residency.
[23] According to statements by Garry Davis in the mid-1970s, major users of World Passports at the time included persons in Southeast Asia fleeing from wars, as well as holders of Rhodesian passports who were otherwise unable to travel internationally as no other country accepted their documents besides South Africa.
[45][46] In 1996 a man was able to buy a World Passport in a name that was not his own, but was detected after repeated attempts to use it to prove his identity when opening accounts at various banks in Indiana, without providing a verifiable address or telephone number.
[47] Regardless of its almost universal lack of acceptance, an individual may also seek to obtain a World Passport as part of a political statement.
[48] In 1977, two mayors of West Bank towns bought World Passports during a visit by Garry Davis.
[49] Despite its limited acceptance, other entities have also sought to manufacture and sell the fantasy travel document, without the consent of the WSA.
[51] In Malaysia in 1994, a Nigerian man was arrested at the Central Market, Kuala Lumpur by tourist police during an identity check, after he showed a World Passport.
[63] Criminals and terrorists who have owned World Passports include Triston Jay Amero, an American man charged with hotel bombings in Bolivia,[11] and Youssef Majed al-Molqi, one of the hijackers of the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
