NEW
YORK, April 14, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A US
federal judge criticized Thursday, April 13, the Bush administration
for being inconsistent in its handling the visa application of Tariq
Ramadan, one of Europe's best known Muslim intellectuals.
"There
is not a clarity within the government as to what procedures to
follow, I find that very troubling," US District Judge Paul
Crotty said during a hearing on whether renowned Ramadan can be
allowed entry to the US after being barred since 2004, Reuters
reported.
The
case, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the
country's leading civil rights organization, argues that US officials
wrongfully blocked Ramadan's entry using the US Patriot Act's
ideological exclusion provision.
The
US State Department revoked the visa in July 2004 on the
recommendation of officials in the Department of Homeland Security.
The
move prevented him from taking up a post at Indiana's Notre Dame
University's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies where the
43-year-old scholar was due to teach a course on Islamic philosophy
and ethics.
"I
have the impression the government steps on the brake and steps on the
accelerator depending on what it wants to do," Crotty said,
noting that Ramadan's visa has been revoked three times since August,
2004.
Criticizing
US
Assistant
US Attorney David Jones, representing the US government, could not say
when the government would make a decision on Ramadan's visa
application or why he had been barred.
He
told the judge that though the Swiss scholar of Egyptian descent had
not been excluded on endorsing terrorism grounds, he added:
"Professor Ramadan, tomorrow, could endorse or espouse
terrorism."
Judge
Crotty seemed unimpressed. "You're denying those people their
rights by not making a decision," he told Jones, then ruled that
the government had two weeks to come up with an answer.
The
ACLU lawyer, Jameel Jaffer, said Ramadan was kept out for criticizing
US Mideast policy, stressing that there was no evidence to allegations
that he was a terrorist supporter, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Ramadan
is "one of Europe's most prominent scholars" on Islamic
issues, Jaffer told the judge, arguing that the government is
violating the rights of Americans to hear constitutionally protected
speech.
Over
a dozen US academics protested the US visa denial and the Chicago
Tribune described it as a punishment for his views on Iraq
invasion and Israeli policies.
The
Guardian newspaper said earlier this month that US professors and
teachers were
