News from the UK’s Education Guardian.
An internationally renowned British Muslim scholar was this week refused entry to the US with no explanation, it has emerged.
Zaki Badawi, head of the Muslim College in London, flew to New York on Wednesday to give a high profile lecture at the city’s Chautauqua Institution. He was denied entry at JFK airport, detained for six hours and then forced to return home. It makes him the latest in a line of high profile European Muslims to be refused entry to the US.Dr Badawi told the Associated Press that he was given no explanation of why he was not being allowed into the country. “The people I was speaking to were very junior people and they are just executing things they were told. They were very, very embarrassed and I felt sorry for them. America is a lovely country. There is no reason why it should behave like that,” he said.
The US Customs and Border Protection office said Dr Badawi had been refused entry to the country based on information indicating that he was “inadmissible”.
A spokeswoman for the customs office in Washington, Leah Yoon, said when he was initially processed, his answers to basic questions were not “in alignment” with his background check or documentation. “He was questioned further and after a thorough interview he was deemed inadmissible,” she said. “He was given several options, but chose to withdraw his application.” The options presented to Dr Badawi could not be disclosed, she said.
Dr Badawi has visited the US several times, most recently in 2003. He was given an honorary knighthood, and in 2003 was a guest of the Queen at a state banquet for the US president, George Bush. Earlier this week, Dr Badawi joined other British religious leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, in publicly condemning the London bomb blasts, which killed at least 54 people.
The FBI could not confirm reports that Dr Badawi had been turned away because he was on a US terror watch list. A Homeland Security spokesman said that during initial processing border officers had discovered information that “required further questioning” before deeming him inadmissible…