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Patriot Act Reverses Visa For Muslim Scholar
Posted on September 02, 2004
If you have seen Day of Remembrance, featured in this years Media That Matters Film Festival you recognize the many restrictions facing individuals of Middle Eastern decent living in the U.S. Recently, Tariq Ramadan a world-renowned Muslim scholar was offered a position at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. However, the U.S. government reversed their decision to grant him a work visa claiming he was terrorist threat. In his article Banned in America, John Tirman explains the controversy:
"The Department of Homeland Security, acting under provisions of the USA Patriot Act, requested the State Department to reverse an earlier decision to grant the visa. This is done to those who have used a 'position of prominence within any country to endorse or espouse terrorist activity.' There is virtually no evidence that is public suggesting that Ramadan has ever espoused terrorism."
In the Chicago Tribune this week, Ramadan personally addressed the accounts against him stating: "Anyone who has read any of my 20 books, 700 articles or listened to any of my 170 audio-taped lectures will discern a consistent message: The very moment Muslims and their fellow citizens realize that being a Muslim and being American or European are not mutually exclusive, they will enrich their societies..."
Read John Tirman's article Banned in America.