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January 21, 2010
Tariq Ramadan Beats City Hall
Yesterday U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton granted a waiver of the bar on U.S. entry imposed on Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, in response to the the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals' recent landmark decision in the denial of a U.S. visa to Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan. The visa denial had been based on Ramadan's ostensible "material support of a terrorist organization," in the form of charitable contributions to two organizations, one French and one Swiss, providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. The U.S. State Department later retroactively determined that the donation recipients supported Hamas, and that Ramadan, as a "material supporter of terrorism," was effectively barred for life from the U.S. - in spite of the approved work visa petition that should have allowed him to take up the teaching position he had accepted at Notre Dame University.
Ramadan arguably has a better gig these days, anyway, but the decision is still (I hope) significant in that it has historically been nearly impossible to have a visa denial reconsidered, let alone with an acknowledgement that even visa applicants who have been accused of supporting terrorism are entitled to examine the evidence against them (if any), present countervailing evidence, and generally have visa applications adjudicated on something more solid than a prejudiced hunch. And even more significant is the prospect that the judicial branch still has jurisdiction over the executive branch, a concept which one hopes would carry over into other terrorism-related matters that will come up for future review.
P.S. For the legal geeks, the full Second Circuit decision is here.
Posted by evaluna at January 21, 2010 08:07 PM
Filed Under: Islam & Politics
, Press Freedom
, Terrorism
, US Foreign Policy
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