Cat Stevens moment

[mrph]

Sheikh Dr Zaki Badawi, a leader of the Council of Mosques and Imams.

He's the guy who was standing next the Chief Rabbi and the Archbishop of Canterbury for a joint, multi-faith statement after the London bombings - he described the bombings as "an evil that cannot be justified and that we utterly condemn and reject".

He was also, according to BBC news, invited to a state banquet held for President Bush by the queen, back in 2003.

So it's probably fair to say that he's one of the most prominent UK muslim leaders, definitely part of the establishment and loudly speaking out against these acts.

He's also just been refused entry to the US without explanation, despite all of the above (and having visited without incident in 2003). According to the BBC, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it had information indicating Dr Badawi was "inadmissible". "We cannot disclose the information which led to the application being inadmissible because of privacy rules", they say.

This is getting a fair bit of coverage in the UK, for obvious reasons. It's not helping anyone's faith in US intelligence. And every time something like this happens (such as the Derek Bond case, for example), people start to wonder about all the other claims the US government has made...

Comments

[giggly-teapot.livejournal.com]

A month or two ago they deported an journalist from the Guardian, because she had not cleared her visit with the Homeland Security office. She pointed out that she was not working but on a package holiday to Disneyland with her family. They ruled that journalists are only allowed in if they have the correct visa, or in other words they can only visit for work purposes?

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

They're very tricky about journalists. The official reason is that they take work away from American journos. I've had colleagues who've been deported from the US (admittedly on their way to industry fairs...).

I'm not anticipating ever having an easy time getting into the US, having a) visited both Cuba and Commie Russia (way back) and b) working for a magazine.