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Dear Friends:
Today, CSID sent the following Open Letter Petition to Secretary Janet Napolitano, signed by 70 Prominent Americans, complaining about the treatment of Dr. Radwan Masmoudi, President of CSID, at US airports, and demanding that his name be removed immediately from the so-called "watch list". Please send a copy of this letter to your congressman or senator, and demand that Congress exerts the necessary oversight over the Department of Homeland Security, and creates an appropriate and transparent mechanism for adding and removing people from these lists.
Nov. 28, 2011
Secretary Janet Napolitano Department of Homeland Security U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528
Dear Secretary Napolitano,
We - the signatories of this letter of appeal - are writing out of concern for the treatment of a colleague and friend for whom we have great respect. Dr. Radwan A. Masmoudi, a dual citizen of the United States and Tunisia, has been struggling since 2005 to get his name removed from the "No Fly" Watch list. As he wrote to you in 2009, Dr. Masmoudi flies domestically and internationally an average of 2-3 times a month. As he has described it to us, without fail, he is subjected to a delay of approximately 1 hour each time before his boarding pass can be printed and he is allowed to board the plane. Upon arrival in the United States, he is always subjected to humiliating and embarrassing searches and interrogations (which last between 2 and 3 hours) about his travel itinerary, the meetings or conferences he attended, and the participants and subjects of these meetings and conferences. On several occasions, DHS officers have come inside the aircraft or waited by the exit doors to escort him to the interrogation rooms, through customs and baggage claims. In addition to the countless hours of his life that have been wasted answering the same questions repeatedly, and the painful humiliation and degradation of being "pulled" in front of his fellow citizens and sometimes in the company of his wife and four US-born children, Dr. Masmoudi has missed his flight on numerous occasions and has had to pay hotel and meal expenses out of pocket.
In 2010, after filing a second official TRIP complaint, he received a Redress Control Number: 2115204. But he has yet to receive an actual redress, and since he last wrote, the debilitating, time-consuming, and too often humiliating disruptions of his travel upon leaving and returning to the US have persisted, with no discernible sign of change. Through it all, he has been remarkably patient, but you can imagine how years of this kind of treatment wears on a person.
We know Dr. Masmoudi as a committed democrat who has been working for many years to reconcile the Islamic faith with democratic principles, and to promote democracy throughout the Islamic world. He is not only a proud American citizen, but his work is very much in the national interest of the United States, and his Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the UN Democracy Fund, among many other notable foundations. Dr. Masmoudi has worked tirelessly for the past 12 years to improve relations between the United States and the Muslim World, and to build bridges of understanding, brotherhood, and cooperation between people of all faiths and backgrounds. We think the United States needs him to continue doing this work. And he needs to travel to do this work.
We know that in this post-9/11 era, many names have gotten confused with others, and the net of vigilance was initially cast very wide. We also know that in this dangerous world, leads must be tracked down to several degrees of separation. We know it can take some time to have innocent people removed from this list. But, with this open letter, we appeal to you. Given that Dr. Masmoudi has been dealing with this problem for seven years now, and given the importance of the work he is doing to advance our vital national interest of promoting democratic values and institutions within the Muslim world, we very much hope that the highest priority and attention can be given to this appeal.
Dr. Masmoudi, more than any person we know, has helped improve US-Tunisian relations, garner support for democracy in the Arab and Muslim world, and help implement a successful transition to democracy in Tunisia. We think an expedited effort to resolve this petition is not only the right and fair thing to do for Dr. Masmoudi at this point, but an important thing to do for the United States as well.
Thank you,
Larry Diamond Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Stanford University
Carl Gershman President National Endowment for Democracy
David J. Kramer President Freedom House
John L Esposito University Professor Georgetown University
Nathan J. Brown Professor of Political Science and International Affairs George Washington University
Steven Heydemann Senior Adviser U. S. Institute of Peace
Akbar S. Ahmed Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies American University
Alfred Stepan Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government Director, Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion Columbia University
Francis Fukuyama Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law Stanford University
Marina Ottaway Senior Associate, Middle East Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Robert R. LaGamma President Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD)
Saad Eddine Ibrahim Member, CSID Board of Directors Founder and Director, Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies
Asma Afsaruddin Chair, CSID Board of Directors Chair & Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures Indiana University
Hrach Gregorian President Institute of World Affairs
Stephen McInerney Executive Director Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
Daniel Brumberg Senior Adviser Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, USIP Associate professor at Georgetown University
Additional Signers (in alphabetical order):
Charles Aquilina Program Director Initiatives of Change
Margot Badran Senior Fellow Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding Georgetown University
Peter Bechtold Chair Emeritus for Near East/North Africa Area Studies Foreign Service Institute, US Dept. of State
Steven B. Bloomfield Executive Director Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Harvard University
Whitney Bodman Associate Professor of Comparative Religion Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Richard W. Bulliet Professor of History Columbia University
David Dorn International Affairs Director, American Federation of Teachers
John P. Entelis Professor of Political Science and Director Middle East Studies Program Fordham University
Carl W. Ernst William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Thomas Farr Visiting Associate Professor Georgetown University
David French Chief Executive (2003-09) Westminster Foundation for Democracy
Graham E. Fuller Former Vice-Chair National Intelligence Council
Marc Gopin Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution George Mason University
Joseph K. Grieboski Chairman of the Board Institute on Religion and Public Policy
Yvonne Haddad Professor of the History of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding Georgetown University
Nader Hashemi Assistant Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics Josef Korbel School of International Affairs University of Denver
Neil Hicks International Policy Advisor Human Rights First
Barbara Ibrahim Director, Gerhart Center for Civic Engagement and Philanthropy Cairo, Egypt
Douglas M. Johnston President International Center for Religion & Diplomacy
Jamil E. Jreisat Professor of Public Administration & Political Science University of South Florida
Merve Kavakci-Islam Lecturer of International Relations George Washington University
M. A. Muqtedar Khan Associate Professor University of Delaware
Joseph N. Kickasola Professor of International Policy Regent University
Mary Knight Visiting Scholar New York University
Charles Kurzman Professor of Sociology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Howard LaFranchi Diplomatic Correspondent The Christian Science Monitor
Joseph Loconte Associate Professor of History The King's College
John McClaughry President, Institute for Liberty and Community Vermont
Oliver McTernan Director, Forward Thinking UK
Joseph V. Montville Program Director School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution George Mason University
Siraj Mufti Director International Center for Peace and Justice Tucson, Arizona
Sheila Musaji Editor The American Muslim
Robert A. Pastor Co-Director, Center for Democracy and Election Management Professor of International Relations American University
Ted Piccone Senior Fellow and Deputy Director Foreign Policy at Brookings Institute
Angel Rabasa International Policy Analyst
Rev. John C. Rankin President, Theological Education Institute (TEI), International
Richard C. Rowson Vice President, Board of Directors Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD)
Omid Safi Professor of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina
Bob Schadler CSID Board Member
Abdallah Schleifer CSID Board Member Professor Emeritus American University in Cairo Middle East Institute
Timothy Samuel Shah Associate Director& Scholar in Residence Religious Freedom Project, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University
Emad El-Din Shahin Henry R. Luce Associate Professor University of Notre Dame
Robert Shedinger Associate Professor of Religion Luther College
David Smock Concerned Citizen
Tamara Sonn Kenan Professor of Humanities College of William & Mary
Philippa Strum Broeklundian Professor Emerita City University of New York
Antony T. Sullivan Vice Chair Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy
Nayereh Tohidi Professor in the Gender and Women's Studies California State University
John Voll Professor of Islamic history Georgetown University
Michael Wolfe Author
William Zartman Jacob Blaustein Professor Emeritus School of Advanced International Studies The Johns Hopkins University
cc: President Barack H. Obama, The White House Senator Joseph I. Lieberman Chairman (ID) (CT), Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Senator Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, the Senate Judiciary Committee Hon. Bennie G. Thompson (MS-2), Committee on Homeland Security Hon. John Conyers Jr., (D) Michigan, 14th, House Judiciary Committee Hon. Keith Ellison, (D) 5th District of Minnesota
Download PDF copy of Letter to Sec. Napolitano |
About CSID
By supporting CSID, you help to: - Create a better future for our children so they can have more opportunities for improving their lives and realizing their dreams.
- Educate and inform Americans about Islam's true values of tolerance, peace, and good will towards mankind, including peoples of other faiths.
- Improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world by supporting popular movements rather than oppressive tyrannies and corrupt regimes.
- Replace the feelings of hopelessness, despair, and anger in many parts of the Muslim world, especially among the youth, with a more positive and hopeful outlook for the future.
- Encourage young Muslim Americans, and Muslims everywhere, to participate in the political process and to reject calls for destructive violence and extremism.
- Build a network of Muslim democrats around the globe who can share knowledge and experience about how to build and strengthen democratic institutions and traditions in the Muslim countries.
Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy
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Amr Hamzawi Prof. of Political Science, Cairo University, former Research Director and Senior Associate at Carnegie Middle East and chairman of The Friends of Free Libya in Egypt
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