Free Republic

A prominent Muslim scholar banned from the United States for six years returned Wednesday for visits to four cities... "In the name of your fear or mistrust of Muslim-majority countries, you may end up betraying your own values," Tariq Ramadan ... Ramadan said he was happy to be in the U.S. ...to speak on a panel Thursday at The Cooper Union college. "My name has been cleared," he said. The 47-year-old professor at Oxford University in England was permitted to return to the United States after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in January signed orders enabling re-entry for him...

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge said he is troubled by government delays in deciding whether a Muslim scholar can enter the United States and may order authorities to make a decision. A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union accuses the government of manipulating the Patriot Act to try to silence Tariq Ramadan, who has been invited to speak in the United States later this month and twice later this year. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty said the State Department seemed to be taking a long time to act on a request by Ramadan last August...

NEW YORK -- The U.S. government has banned a prominent Muslim scholar from the United States after accusing him of aiding a terrorist group, though a civil rights lawyer said Monday that the small charitable donation cited as an infraction was a pretext for censorship. Janelle Hironimus, a State Department spokeswoman, said a U.S. consular officer last Thursday denied the application by Tariq Ramadan for a temporary business and tourism visa based on new information the government learned about Ramadan. She said it was determined that Ramadan was ineligible to enter the country "based solely on his actions, which constituted...