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US visa to Ramadan denied, again

A leading Muslim scholar whom the British government appointed last year to a taskforce to help British Muslims integrate into the mainstream has been denied a US visa for a second time by the State Department. A Swiss citizen, Tariq Ramadan teaches at the University of Oxford’s St Anthony College on a visiting fellowship, and was also named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 greatest innovators of the 21st century.

While the State Department refused to divulge any details about its refusal for the visa, it was reported that Ramadan was denied a temporary business and tourism visa for donating $765 to French and Swiss organisations that provided humanitarian aid to Palestinians. In July 2004, Ramadan had his visa cancelled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while he was teaching religion at Notre Dame University’s Joan B Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in Indiana. He had to resign from his position following that order.

In its court deposition, the DHS had declined to provide a specific reason for denying the visa, but explained that “the Patriot Act allows the government to ban foreigners who espouse terrorist activity.” In its later statements, the DHS refused to connect Ramadan to any terrorist activity, but retained his cancelled visa status.

In March 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union requested an injunction in a US federal court that would bar DHS from denying Ramadan entry into the US where he was invited to speak at academic and literary conferences. In June this year, a federal judge ruled that the government cannot continue to deny Ramadan entry to the US unless it rules and provides evidence that he is a national security threat. The judge gave the government until September to decide whether it would allow him entry. The State Department order denying him the visa came on September 20.

Ramadan said in a statement: I think it’s clear from the history of this case that the US government’s real fear is of my ideas. I am excluded not because the government truly believes me to be a national security threat, but because of my criticisms of American foreign policies in the Middle East; because of my opposition to the invasion of Iraq; and because of my criticism of some of the Bush administration’s policies with respect to civil liberties.”