The US administration has lifted a ban on a planned visit by a leading European Muslim critic of the Iraq War, a US official said on Wednesday, in a move hailed by a rights group as a victory for civil liberties.
The academic, Tariq Ramadan, a professor of Oxford University, said the decision showed what he called a new US willingness to permit critical debate.
He had been barred from the US because of alleged terrorism ties, which he denies.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the US State Department had also decided to end the exclusion of another prominent academic, professor Adam Habib of Johannesburg University, who had been critical of US counterterrorism policies.
“The orders ending the exclusion of Adam Habib and Tariq Ramadan are long overdue and tremendously important,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project, adding that this was “a major victory for civil liberties.”
“For several years, the United States government was more interested in stigmatizing and silencing its foreign critics than in engaging them. The decision ... is a welcome sign the [US President Barack] Obama administration is committed to facilitating rather than obstructing the exchange of ideas across international borders,” he said.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision about Ramadan meant that if he applied for a visa in the future, “he will not be found inadmissable based on the facts that led to the previous denial.”
The official said the decision was based on a “specific exemption” to US immigration rules after consultation with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
“Professor Ramadan remains subject to all other standards of eligibility” should he apply for a US visa, the official said.
Ramadan, who has Swiss citizenship, said that as a result of the decision he would apply soon for a visa to visit the US.
Campaigners have championed the case of Ramadan and Habib as part of a pattern of academics and writers being excluded because of unwarranted or unspecified US national security grounds.
The US has revoked Ramadan’s visa several times since 2004. Washington initially gave no reason for its decision, but later said Ramadan had been barred based on a provision of the Patriot Act that allows people to be excluded for supporting terrorism.
The ACLU argued the government was using the provision more broadly to deny entry to people whose political views they did not approve of.
Habib was detained and interrogated about his political views and associations when he arrived in New York in October 2006 for meetings with groups such as the World Bank and ACLU.
In an interview, Ramadan said he remained barred from several Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and he had little hope these bans would be lifted anytime soon.
Ramadan said he was unpopular with some Arab governments because he had criticized them for what he described as failing to support Palestinians and seeking to place the responsibility for the Palestinians’ situation on the West.
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