Hearing for Muslim Barred by U.S.
By JULIA PRESTON
The New York Times
April 14, 2006
Government lawyers clarified some mysteries yesterday and deepened others in the case of Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Muslim scholar and leading European theologian of Islam who has been barred by the Bush administration from traveling to the United States since July 2004.
Papers the government presented at a hearing in federal court in New York revealed that, contrary to officials' statements, a clause in the USA Patriot Act that bans any foreigner who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity" was not the reason Mr. Ramadan's United States visa was revoked. The government also said it did not intend to bar Mr. Ramadan in the future based on that clause.
But the government also said that Mr. Ramadan's case had been and remained a national security matter, and that statements he made in recent interviews with American consular officials in Switzerland had raised new "serious questions" about whether he should be allowed to come to the United States.
Neither the government's documents nor its lawyer, David S. Jones, an assistant United States attorney, explained why Mr. Ramadan was first banned or provided any detail about the new concerns.
The hearing, before Judge Paul A. Crotty in Federal District Court in Manhattan, came in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three academic and writers' organizations who have invited Mr. Ramadan to speak. The groups claim their First Amendment rights have been violated because they cannot meet with Mr. Ramadan.
Mr. Ramadan's difficulties began in 2004, after he had been hired by the University of Notre Dame as a tenured professor. On July 28, 2004, the State Department revoked his visa without official explanation. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told reporters then that the visa had been pulled under the clause barring foreigners who support terrorism.
In December 2004, after Notre Dame unsuccessfully pressed the administration to reconsider, Mr. Ramadan resigned his position at the university and took a nontenured professor's position at Oxford University in England.
After receiving a raft of invitations to speak in the United States, Mr. Ramadan applied again for a visa in September. He was interviewed twice by consular officials in Bern in December. In a recent interview, Mr. Ramadan said he had spoken openly about his opposition to the American occupation of Iraq.
The government would not predict when it would decide on the visa, leaving Judge Crotty frustrated.
The plaintiff's "First Amendment rights can't wait forever," he said.
One group in the suit, the PEN American Center, has invited Mr. Ramadan to speak at a conference in New York starting April 25.
Judge Crotty did not rule, but indicated he was inclined to order the government to at least make a decision about Mr. Ramadan.
The New York Times
April 14, 2006
Government lawyers clarified some mysteries yesterday and deepened others in the case of Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Muslim scholar and leading European theologian of Islam who has been barred by the Bush administration from traveling to the United States since July 2004.
Papers the government presented at a hearing in federal court in New York revealed that, contrary to officials' statements, a clause in the USA Patriot Act that bans any foreigner who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity" was not the reason Mr. Ramadan's United States visa was revoked. The government also said it did not intend to bar Mr. Ramadan in the future based on that clause.
But the government also said that Mr. Ramadan's case had been and remained a national security matter, and that statements he made in recent interviews with American consular officials in Switzerland had raised new "serious questions" about whether he should be allowed to come to the United States.
Neither the government's documents nor its lawyer, David S. Jones, an assistant United States attorney, explained why Mr. Ramadan was first banned or provided any detail about the new concerns.
The hearing, before Judge Paul A. Crotty in Federal District Court in Manhattan, came in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three academic and writers' organizations who have invited Mr. Ramadan to speak. The groups claim their First Amendment rights have been violated because they cannot meet with Mr. Ramadan.
Mr. Ramadan's difficulties began in 2004, after he had been hired by the University of Notre Dame as a tenured professor. On July 28, 2004, the State Department revoked his visa without official explanation. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told reporters then that the visa had been pulled under the clause barring foreigners who support terrorism.
In December 2004, after Notre Dame unsuccessfully pressed the administration to reconsider, Mr. Ramadan resigned his position at the university and took a nontenured professor's position at Oxford University in England.
After receiving a raft of invitations to speak in the United States, Mr. Ramadan applied again for a visa in September. He was interviewed twice by consular officials in Bern in December. In a recent interview, Mr. Ramadan said he had spoken openly about his opposition to the American occupation of Iraq.
The government would not predict when it would decide on the visa, leaving Judge Crotty frustrated.
The plaintiff's "First Amendment rights can't wait forever," he said.
One group in the suit, the PEN American Center, has invited Mr. Ramadan to speak at a conference in New York starting April 25.
Judge Crotty did not rule, but indicated he was inclined to order the government to at least make a decision about Mr. Ramadan.
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