NY Court Rules on Muslim Scholar Barred from US

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NY Court Rules on Muslim Scholar Barred from US

NEW YORK – A federal court in New York says U.S. officials were obligated to give a Muslim scholar a chance to show he was no supporter of terrorism before barring him from the country.
Professor Tariq Ramadan had his U.S. visa revoked in 2004. He was about to take a job at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
His applications for a new visa were denied on the grounds he had donated money to a charity that supported the Palestinian group Hamas.
The federal appeals court ruled Friday that it was legal for the government to refuse
Ramadan. But it said it had to give him the chance to prove he didn’t know his money would go to a terrorist group.
The case will now return to a lower court. Ramadan can reapply for the visa.
Associated Press – July 17, 2009
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Comments read comments(7)

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Nate W

posted July 17, 2009 at 6:59 pm

I hope that everything works out for him. The post-9/11 rules for visas has made things unnecessarily tough on a lot of people, especially people associated with religious groups. One example, a Finnish evangelical theologian teaching in the US had his visa revoked on the basis of some bizarre and seemingly stupid new laws. The Ramadan case has a little more of a sensible concern to back it up than many of the other cases, but the post-9/11 crackdown overall has been more hassle than its worth.

nnmns

posted July 17, 2009 at 9:39 pm

Yes, there was a big tinge of panic then which might have been acceptable for a short time but by now we need a rational, careful and effective method of deciding who gets in that doesn’t unnecessarily screen a lot of people out.
There’s no perfect judging but by screening out large numbers of people we lose talent and insult friends.
Everyone is afraid of letting the wrong person in, losing track of the harm in keeping the right people out.

Henrietta22

posted July 17, 2009 at 11:03 pm

I’m glad he has been given a chance to prove his contributions for the needy wasn’t being used for the terrorists.

Heretic_for_Christ

posted July 18, 2009 at 8:15 am

I I have no use for Hamas, but I have to wonder: suppose someone makes contributions to some jingoist-Christian apocalypse cult that preaches armed armageddon and extermination of all “enemies of God” but also runs a soup kitchen. Would that person be denied a visa, too? Or are Muslim groups the only ones that can be recognized as instigating or carrying out acts of terrorism?

Nate W

posted July 18, 2009 at 1:18 pm

Heretic, as I said, an important Finnish evangelical theologian, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, had his visa revoked under the post-9/11 rules too, and he had no connection to anything that could be even remotely construed as a terrorist group. He eventually won it back, as Ramadan hopefully will too, but the point is that these new rules have made things unnecessarily difficult for lots of foreigners with religious associations, not just the Muslims.