A US federal appeals court has overturned a previous verdict upholding a government decision to deny one of Europe’s leading Muslim intellectuals entry, reported The New York Times on Saturday, July 18.
“I am gratified that the court has found that my exclusion from the United States is without basis,” Professor Tariq Ramadan said in a statement.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled Friday that the US administration has to confront Muslim scholar with the allegations against him.
The three-judge panel said the consular officer who denied Ramadan the visa had not told the scholar of the reason why his visa was revoked or given him the chance to explain his point.
“The record was unclear whether the consular officer had done so,” the court said.
Ramadan was invited to teach at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 but the Bush government revoked his visa, citing a statute that applies to those who have “endorsed or espoused” terrorism.
In 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the American Academy of Religion, the American Association of University Professors and PEN American Center challenging the decision.
The administration then abandoned its claim Ramadan had endorsed terrorism, linking the ban to $1,336 he donated between 1998 and 2002 to a Swiss charity the US blacklisted in 2003.
Friday’s ruling sent the case back to a lower court for further consideration and then give the Muslim scholar the chance to deny the government allegations.
If that did not happen, the panel said, a new visa hearing should be held.
Engagement
ACLU said the court ruling proves the weak argument the government has cited to bar the Muslim scholar.
“In this case the government simply has not offered a constitutionally adequate justification for its actions,” said ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer.
Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office in Manhattan, which argued the case for the government, declined to comment on the court ruling.
The Muslim scholar said that the visa denial of his and his likes harm efforts to engage between the West and the Muslim world.
"(I’m eager to) engage once again with Americans in the kinds of face-to-face exchanges that were crucial to bridging cultural divides,” he said.
“I hope to be able to come back to the States and resume my work with scholars,” he added in an interview with the Times.
“This is what I want.”
A Swiss citizen of Egyptian origin, Ramadan is one of Europe’s leading Muslim thinkers and has often condemned terrorism and extremism.
The author of 20 books and 700 articles on Islam, he was named by Time magazine as one of 100 innovators of the 21st century for his work on creating an independent European Islam.
His reputation in British and American academic circles is one of a moderate expert on Muslim affairs.
