Yvonand Beach

a swiss citizen, tariq ramadan, banned from entry in the us, rises against rice and deposited a federal call for case. the call for case is formulated by the ACLU and a heterogeneous group of intellectuals and university professors.

here translation in english of source


the swiss muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan is at the center of a legal action against the Patriot Act. The Union for Civil Liberties in America (UCLA) has deposited a federal call for case vs the Patriot Act based on the denial of entry visa to tariq ramadan from the us authorities.

several organisations, intellectuals and university professors have joined the call deposited wednesday against secretary of state condoleezzza rice. tariq ramadan figures on the list of plaintifs.

the investigators think a clause of the Patriot Act, cited in 2004 for backing the denial of visa delivery to tariq ramadan, is inconstitutional. this clause authorises american authorities to deny delivery of visa to persons which have "embraced the terrorist cause (transaltion from french...)" or "are promoting their cause".

the swiss intellectual has never backed terrorism, says ACLU (i confirm, he is originaly a school professor in geneva), denouncing an "ideological exclusion" in a press release. "to exclude people of the country because of their ideas biases and impoverishes the political debate in the us" explains a lawyer of the association, Jameel Jaffer.

the ACLU further claims the decision of the us authorities contradicts the 1st amendment of the us constitution. this decision violates the right of intellectuals to meet and share ideas and listen to a sommity of the muslim world (there is a biase I think here :-), whereas tariq is more the emminent muslim of the western world, he is hardly known in the muslim world, to my opinion)

us press relating the news thursday noted he had received 40 invitations to lectures in the us during 2005 alone.

us doors closed in july 2004. the intellectual wanted to take a professor position in indiana in Notre Dame University. however after waiting 5 months for his visa, he had to resign from the position.

tariq ramadan actually lives in londan, where he delivers lectures at the Oxford University. he is also involved, on behalf of the Prime Minister Blair, in a thinktank about violent muslim extremism.