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CAIR REPORT - May 11, 2005
The status of Muslim civil rights in the United States – 2005
The ‘no-fly’ list and the cases
of Tariq Ramadan and Yusuf Islam
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001(132) and is charged with overseeing the security of all modes of interstate transportation. The TSA's current system for preventing terrorist access to airplanes relies on airline ‘watch lists’ compiled from a variety of government sources. At least two types of ‘watch lists’ are maintained: a ‘no-fly’ list of terrorist suspects, and a ‘selectee’ list targeting people who must be subjected to rigorous screening before they are allowed to fly(133).
The TSA has refused to supply details on whom or why someone is on the ‘no-fly’ or ‘selectee’ lists. However, according to TSA documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit filed on behalf of six racially diverse plaintiffs by the ACLU;(134) the list of targeted people has been growing daily in response to requests from the intelligence community, DHS and other agencies. The ACLU is asking the court to declare that the No-Fly list violates airline passengers’ constitutional rights of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and also violates due process under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments135. The ACLU is also asking the TSA to develop satisfactory procedures that will allow innocent people to fly without being treated as potential terrorists and without being subjected to humiliation and unnecessary delays.
Reverend John Shaw is one of the six plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit and one of the many names on the ‘No-Fly’ list.
“I am joining the ACLU lawsuit because I have been repeatedly interrogated, delayed, and have experienced ‘enhanced’ screening procedures and detention since 2002. I have also tried without success to have my name removed from the list(136),” said the 74-year-old Presbyterian minister from Sammamish, Washington.
The Case of Professor Tariq Ramadan
Dr. Tariq Ramadan is a world renowned Swiss scholar known for his work on Islamic theology and the place of modernity within Islam and recently named one of TIME magazines “100 Innovators of the 21st Century”(137). Because of his prolific academic record, Dr. Ramadan was appointed the Henry R. Luce Professorship of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Building(138) for the Fall 2004 semester at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana(139).
Dr. Ramadan’s visa application for admittance to the United States was initially accepted and he received a visa from the U.S. State Department. After receiving his visa, Dr. Ramadan was preparing to move his family and young children to Indiana and was scheduled to begin teaching his classes at Notre Dame in late August. However, just days before Dr. Ramadan was set to travel, his visa was revoked without any explanation at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)(140).
It turns out that Dr. Ramadan’s visa was revoked pursuant to section 411 of the USA PATRIOT Act, which bars entry to foreigners who have used a "position of prominence . . . to endorse or espouse terrorist activity."(141)
Although government officials have provided no explanation concerning Dr. Ramadan’s visa revocation, some noted scholars said they suspected the government's decision to bar Ramadan could have been influenced by certain right-wing pro-Israeli groups that have “waged a campaign” against moderate Muslim scholars and intellectuals whose views on Islam and the Middle East conflict with their own.(142)
Graham Fuller, a Middle East expert, a senior Rand analyst and former Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Counsel told the Chicago Tribune that, “…pro-Likud organizations want to block people who can speak articulately and present the Muslim dilemma in a way that might be understandable and sympathetic to Americans.” In talking about the Arab-Israeli crisis, he said, “They succeed by presenting this as a security matter. There is no way homeland security would initiate this on its own.”
For example, websites which seek to chill the First Amendment and academic freedom, such as Campus Watch, initiated by neoconservative Daniel Pipes, seek to ‘expose’ professors who allegedly hold views critical of the right-wing Likud government of Ariel Sharon in Israel.(143)
"They want to say all Muslims are a monolithic threat,” said Professor John Esposito of Georgetown University, who describes Dr. Ramadan as "an established academic . . . with a strong record."(144)
Professor Scott Appleby, director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, challenged Ramadan's critics to provide any credible evidence of nefarious links.
"If Mr. Pipes or anyone else has solid evidence that Tariq Ramadan has `connections' with [terrorists] --whatever that might mean--I would like to see it," Appleby said. "Otherwise, unsubstantiated charges intended to defame a Muslim intellectual is troublingly reminiscent of some of the darkest moments in U.S history."(145)
Commenting on the arbitrary denial of a visa to Dr. Ramadan and his appointment to Notre Dame, Professor Appleby further states that despite the numerous requests to DHS and federal government officials, the University of Notre Dame has been given, “…no substantial evidence of any of the various things that have been said about him.”(146)
Professor Appleby goes on to further state, quite categorically, that “we stand behind Tariq fully, and are proud of the appointment, and believe and continue to believe it's the proper appointment.”(147)
The case of Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)
“It started with a simple spelling error…”148 --TIME Magazine, September 25 2004
On September 21, 2004, United Airlines Flight 919(149) was en route from London to Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington DC; when American officials realized that the former world famous pop superstar Cat Stevens, now named Yusuf Islam, was aboard the flight. After learning of Mr. Islam’s presence on the flight, the plane was diverted 600 miles to Maine’s Bangor International Airport where federal authorities questioned Islam at 3:00pm Eastern Standard Time(150).
After the lengthy interview, U.S. officials ordered Islam’s deportation, saying that he was on a “security watch list because of suspicions that he was associated with potential terrorists.”(151) After being held in Bangor, Mr. Islam, a British citizen, was then transferred to Logan International Airport in Boston, where the Massachusetts Port Authority said he would be put on a flight to Washington. From there, he was subsequently sent back to London.(152)
Yusuf Islam was born Stephen Demetre Georgiou in London to a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mother(153). In the 1970s, he took the stage name Cat Stevens and had a string of musical hits in the 1970s, including Wild World and Morning Has Broken.(154) Last year he released two songs, including a re-recording of his 1971 international hit Peace Train, to express his opposition to the war in Iraq.
He left his music career in the late 1970s after his conversion to Islam. He later became a teacher and an advocate for his religion, founding a Muslim school in London in 1983. He founded Islamia Primary school in London in 1983. In 1998, it became the first Muslim school in Britain to receive government support on the same basis as Christian and other religious schools.(155)
Yusuf Islam is also the founder of Small Kindness, a charity whose purpose it is to raise money for children and families suffering from poverty and war in the Balkans and Middle East. He has also donated, both personally and through his charities, money to victims of the September 11 tragedies and to victims of the AIDS pandemic in Africa.(156)
Upon his return to London after his ordeal, Mr. Islam told a crowded press conference that he was "shocked and slightly amused" that U.S. officials had determined that he was on a ‘terrorist’ watch list and was not allowed to enter the United States. Islam said that he was a victim of an "unjust and arbitrary system," and that he has consistently denounced terrorism in his speeches and even on his official website.(157)
In regards to the ‘no-fly’ list, the former pop singer was allegedly in the same league as United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), who apparently shares a name with someone on the ‘no-fly’ list and had been told several times that he could not fly(158).
Senator Kennedy told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March 2004 because his name appeared on the government's secret ‘no-fly’ list.(159) Senator Kennedy said that he had to personally enlist the help of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to get his name removed from the list.(160)
Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to the scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened and even they acknowledged that the ‘no-fly’ list is imperfect. However, privately, officials were embarrassed that it took a United States senator and his staff “more than three weeks to get his name removed.”(161)
As is the case with Yusuf Islam and Senator Kennedy, most of the other people ensnared in the ‘no-fly’ list debate have absolutely no links to terrorism. At least one person says he was told that he would need to “have his name legally changed to avoid the problem in the future.”(162)
Subsequently, the case of Yusuf Islam became humorous fodder for newspaper editorial pages and for late-night talk show monologues.
The Washington Post commented that in the case of Islam and the ‘no-fly’ list, what the government was “missing was common sense.”(163) The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the fiasco a “ridiculous overreaction”(164).
“What did federal authorities think he was going to do? Threaten to sing ‘Peace Train’ over and over until certain demands were met?” said the Post-Gazette editorial. “…Here was someone who was traveling with his daughter and had been to the United States several times, most recently in May, when he met with officials of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to discuss philanthropic work…”
Other notable figures have spoken up against the United States’ arbitrary and secretive denial of Yusuf Islam’s entry into the United States. Islam’s detention and return to Britain sparked a protest to the Bush administration by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
On September 22, 2004, Secretary Straw personally told United States Secretary of State Colin Powell that the action against Mr. Islam "should not have been taken".(165)
A final validation to the injustice committed against Mr. Islam occurred on November 10, 2004 when Yusuf Islam was presented with the "Man for Peace" award by former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev at the opening of a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Rome, Italy.(166) The Gorbachev Foundation said the peace award was for Yusuf Islam’s dedication to “promoting peace and condemning terrorism(167).”
Past winners of the Man of Peace Award include Italian film director Roberto Benigni, director of the critically acclaimed movie Life is Beautiful.
The ‘Man of Peace’ Award is given annually "to a distinguished personage of culture and entertainment for peace messages, fraternity and integration between nations."(168)
At the presentation of the peace prize, President Gorbachev kissed Islam on the cheeks and praised him for standing by his convictions despite personal hardships.
"Cat Stevens' life has not been simple," Gorbachev said. "Every person who takes a critical stance to make the world a better place ... has a difficult life."(169)
In summing up the receipt of this prestigious international award and his recent ordeal in the United States, Yusuf Islam told reporters that "…perhaps it's part of the irony that sometimes you have to go through a test in order to achieve a prize..(170) So maybe that’s a symbol. Today I’m receiving a prize for peace, which is actually, I would say, a bit more descriptive of my ideas and my aims in life.”(171)
The Miami Herald called Islam’s receipt of the Gorbachev Foundation ‘Man of Peace’ award “sweet vindication”.(172)
132 Public Law 107-71 available at
http://www.tsa.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/Aviation_and_Transportation_Security_Act_ATSA_Public_Law_107_1771. pdf
133 Airline Watchlists: Overview, Human Rights First available at
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/privacy/airwatch_overview.htm
134 Green et al. v. Transportation Security Administration et al. available at
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=15419&c=272
135 Stella Richardson “ACLU Challenges ‘No-Fly’ Lists: Citizens targeted as terrorists” ACLU News of ACLU of
Northern California, Spring 2004 available at http://aclunc.org/aclunews/news0407/nofly.html
136 Id.
137 See http://www.time.com/time/innovators/spirituality/profile_ramadan.html
138 Jay Tolson, “Should this man come to the U.S.?” U.S. News and World Report, December 6 2004 available at
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/041206/misc/6islam.htm
139 Interview with Tariq Ramadan and Scott Appleby “Leading Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan Denied U.S. Visa to Teach at Notre Dame” Democracy Now! September 13 2004 available at
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/13/1428249
140 Id.
141 See supra note 2.
142 Genieve Abdo “Muslim scholar has visa revoked” Chicago Tribune, August 24 2004 available at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408240223aug24,1,3887036.story?coll=chi-news-hed
143 Id.
144 Id. 145 Id.
146 Supra note 130. 147 Id.
148 Sally Donnelly, “You say Yusuf, I say Youssof” TIME Magazine, September 25 2004 available at
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,702062,00.html
149 “Britain complains to U.S. about Cat Stevens’ detention” The Associated Press, September 23 2004 available at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6067570/
150 Kevin Anderson, “Cat Stevens to be deported after jet diversion” Associated Press, September 21 2004. See also
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-09-21-jet-diverted_x.htm
151 See Id.
152 Jeanne Meserve, “Detained Cat Stevens heading home” CNN.com, September 22 2004 available at
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/22/plane.diverted.stevens/
153 “Cat Stevens denied entry into U.S.” British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), September 22 2004 available at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3678694.stm
154 Supra note 145. 155 Id.
156“Cat Stevens wins peace prize” Associated Press, November 11 2004 available at
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/10/catstevens.peace.ap/
157 Id.
158 Editorial, “Moonshadow boxing” Washington Post, September 25 2004 at A22.
159 Sara Kehaulani Goo “Sen. Kennedy flagged by no-fly list” Washington Post, August 20 2004 available at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5765143
160 “Ted Kennedy’s Airport Adventure” Associated Press, August 19 2004 available at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/06/terror/main610466.shtml
161 Supra note 152. 162 Id.
163 Id. 164 Editorial, “National insecurity / Keeping America safe from Cat Stevens” Pittsbugh Post-Gazette, September 26 2004 available at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04270/385027.stm 165 “Cat Stevens ‘shock’ at US refusal” British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), September 23 2004 available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3682434.stm
166 Supra note 151.
167 “Cat Stevens honoured by Gorbachev” British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), November 9 2004 available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3994905.stm
168 Id.
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