A US federal appeals court has overturned a previous verdict upholding a government decision to deny entry to Professor Tariq Ramadan, one of Europe’s leading Muslim intellectuals, reports said on July 18. “I am gratified that the court has found that my exclusion from the United States is without basis,” said Professor Ramadan in a statement. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled on July 17 that the US administration has to confront Muslim scholar with the allegations against him. The three-judge panel said the consular officer who denied Ramadan the visa had not told the scholar of the reason why his visa was revoked or given him the chance to explain his point. “The record was unclear whether the consular officer had done so,” the court said. Ramadan was invited to teach at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 but the Bush government revoked his visa, citing a statute that applies to those who have “endorsed or espoused” terrorism.
In 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of the American Academy of Religion, the American Association of University Professors and PEN American Centre challenging the decision. The administration then abandoned its claim Ramadan had endorsed terrorism, linking the ban to $1,336 he donated between 1998 and 2002 to a Swiss charity the US blacklisted in 2003. Friday’s ruling sent the case back to a lower court for further consideration and then give the Muslim scholar the chance to deny the government allegations. If that did not happen, the panel said, a new visa hearing should be held.