Prominent Academics Now Able to Travel
US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton has ended a pair of controversial bans, implemented by the Bush administration, that were preventing two renowned academics from entering the country.
Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford, was denied entry to the US in 2004 despite his acceptance of a tenured post at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. The US administration at the time said the refusal was due to Ramadan’s support of a Swiss-based charity with financial links to terrorist activity.
Adam Habib, Professor of Political Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, was also refused a visa in 2006 due to alleged engagement in ‘terrorist activities.’ Supporters of both academics said that the bans were in response to their condemnation of the US-led war in Iraq.
Clinton’s order means that whilst the two academics will have to reapply for their visas to travel to the United States, the reasons previously used against them will not be used and it is expected that their applications will be speedily accepted. A White House spokesperson, announcing the lifting of the ban, said that it reflected the Obama administration’s desire to form a new relationship with Muslim communities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
For some time there has been considerable opposition to the decisions taken by the Bush administration with regards to these two academics. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) had previously joined together with the American Academy of Religion and the PEN American Centre in a law suit against the ban under the First Amendment right to free speech.
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Alert - United States of America
| Date: | 26 January 2010 |
| Source: | Inside Higher Education |
| Classification: | Media Article |
| Violation: | Restrictions on Travel |
| Affected Persons: | Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib |
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