The US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection section would not elaborate on why it barred a British Muslim scholar from flying to New York from London on October 18.
Dr Kamal Helbawy, 67, a founding member of the Muslim Association of Britain, was escorted off his flight at Heathrow airport shortly before take-off. The US Dept of Homeland Security spokeswoman Kelly Klundt told Newsweek magazine, The individual was inadmissible to enter the US, but she would not elaborate on why he was inadmissible.
Helbawy was due to speak on a panel on the Muslim Brotherhood, organized by the Centre on Law and Security, an independent think tank based in New York.
In an exclusive interview with The Muslim News Helbawy said, “I was already seated in the plane when the pilot said we’d be delayed by two or three minutes. I knew immediately what it was about when my name was read out.”
Once back at the checkout, Helbawy said he was approached by a US Homeland Security Officer who asked Helbawy to go to a room to be questioned. Helbawy says he told the officer he was out of his territorial jurisdiction to ask any questions. “I told him I’d only be questioned in the presence of a solicitor and that as a British citizen he could not question me as we were still in British terroritory.”
The officer told Helbawy that he should report to the American Embassy first before going to the US. Describing it as an “unreasonable request of someone with a valid British passport” Helbawy asked, “I’m a British citizen why do I have to report to the US embassy?”
Helbawy said he believed he may have been stopped due to a report by a US counter-terrorism task force that used articles by Steve Emerson, a regular advisor to the National Security Council, who in an article quoted speeches made by Helbawy in US universities in 1991 and 1992. Helbay said, “My view on Iraq and Palestine are well known and the loss of many Republican seats in the elections made President Bush concede his faults in tackling those issues.”
Internal documents recently released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Homeland Security and State officials are using the Patriot Act and other post-September 11 laws to deny entry into US on such vague defined grounds as having engaged in �irresponsible expressions of opinion.”
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which obtained the documents, believes there has been more than 25 “ideological exclusions” since September 11. ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer, said, “We’re seeing increasing numbers of people excluded simply because of their speech or political beliefs, they are using these to censor and manipulate political and academic debate inside the country.”
“There’s now inter-fighting in the US over how Muslim scholars are being treated.”
More than 1,000 people are denied entry to the US every day, while more than 1.1 million are allowed to enter.
A spokesperson for the US Embassy told The Muslim News they were investigating the matter.
