Tariq Ramadan hearing, important victory
Scholars and champions of the freedom to write gained an important victory this week in New York.
The 2d Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision that had prevented the Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan from entering the country. Ramadan, an outspoken critic of both fundamentalism and American intervention alike, was excluded in 2004 on ideological grounds after having been offered a tenured position at Notre Dame. The government later discovered that Ramadan had donated about $1200 to a group that funded Hamas, a listed terrorist group.
The appeals court held that Ramadan was entitled to explain his association with the alleged terrorist group, and had been denied such an opportunity at the consulate. He was not granted a visa. The freedom of speech has now been extended to apply at consular proceedings. A lower court will now reexamine Ramadan’s case.
Ramadan is an elusive, controversial figure whose complex opinions can be interpreted in a variety of ways.
–Deji Olukotun
Read the PEN American Center’s press release here.
Read my earlier post about Ramadan here.
Visit a profile of Tariq Ramadan by human rights Professor Ian Baruma here.
Read a statement by Tariq Ramadan about his views about Islam and anti-semitism, among other issues (in French): here.
