US immigration lift ban on Oxford 'scholar'
January 21 2010 by Liam Clifford
A Muslim critic of the Iraq war has been told that he is now free to visit the US.
US immigration have lifted restrictions on a proposed visit by a controversial Muslim scholar and critic of the war in Iraq, US border officials have confirmed, the move is being heralded by civil liberties groups as a victory for human rights.
Professor Tariq Ramadan from Oxford University, who will now be permitted to enter the US, said in a interview that the decision showed that the US was now beginning to show signs of a “willingness to engage in critical debate”.
Jameel Jaffer from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that Ramadan’s case was "a major victory for civil liberties".
"For several years, the United States Government was more interested in stigmatising and silencing its foreign critics than in engaging them.
He continued saying that the decision was “a welcome sign the Obama administration is committed to facilitating rather than obstructing the exchange of ideas across international borders."
However even though the professor can now pass through US immigration without a problem he still remains on an exclusion list for several Arab countries, these include Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
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