NEW YORK: A civil liberties group said it will appeal a U.S. judge’s ruling that upheld the federal government’s decision to deny entry to a prominent Europe-based Muslim , a move that promises to extend a legal battle U.S. officials have cast as part of the fight against terror.
The American Civil Liberties Union had sued the government on behalf Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss citizen and visiting fellow in Oxford, England, arguing that U.S. officials excluded Ramadan from the country because of his opposition to the Iraq war and other sympathies. U.S. officials, however, said Ramadan donated money to a Muslim group that aided terrorism and that those contributions were sufficient grounds to keep the noted scholar out of the U.S.
On Thursday, a federal judge sided with the government, ruling that federal authorities had shown their decision was based on legitimate reasons and, as such, had not violated the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty in Manhattan said the law requires Ramadan to provide “clear and convincing evidence” that he lacked knowledge of what U.S. authorities say are the group’s illicit activities.
Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said Ramadan “is being excluded not because of his actions, but because of his ideas, and that the group would appeal the ruling.
“The result is that foreign scholars will continue to be barred from the country simply because they have said things that the Bush administration disagrees with, and that is a very sad thing,” Jaffer said.
There was no immediate comment from government lawyers.
Ramadan, who has spoken at Harvard and Stanford universities in the U.S., has opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and said he sympathizes with the resistance there and in the Palestinian territories. He also has said he has no connections to terrorism, opposes Islamic extremism and promotes peaceful solutions.
On Sept. 16, 2005, Ramadan requested a nonimmigrant visa that would permit him to attend speaking engagements. His earlier visa had been revoked in August 2004.
The following September, Ramadan was excluded from the country on the grounds that he aided a terrorist group by making charitable contributions from 1998 to 2002.
Ramadan has said he never intended to assist terrorism when he made $1,336 in contributions to the Association de Secours Palestinien. The U.S. government says the group has provided funds to Hamas, which the government has designated a foreign terrorist organization. The United States outlawed contributions to the group in 2003.
