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Juhel Miah, 25, from south Wales was removed from a plane in Reykjavik despite suspension of president’s travel ban on February 16
A Bangladeshi origin British Muslim schoolteacher travelling to New York last week as a member of a school party from south Wales was denied entry to the United States, reports the Guardian.
Juhel Miah, 25, a Math teacher, and a group from Llangatwg Comprehensive in Aberdulais, Neath Port Talbot, South Wales, were travelling from Iceland when he was removed from the plane at Reykjavik on February 16.
The previous week, on the February 10, a US appeals court had upheld a decision to suspend Donald Trump’s executive order that temporarily banned entry to the country from seven Muslim-majority countries.
A spokesman for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council said the trip proceeded as planned but pupils and colleagues were left “shocked and distressed” after “popular and respected” Miah was escorted from the aircraft by security personnel.
The council has written to the US Embassy in London to express its dismay at the treatment of one of its employees and said it understood that Miah was refused permission by the United States authorities to fly to New York, despite being issued with a valid visa for travel, reports the Independent.
The spokesman said, “No satisfactory reason has been provided for refusing entry to the US, either at the airport in Iceland or subsequently at the US Embassy in Reykjavik. “Miah attempted to visit the embassy but was denied access to the building. “Understandably he feels belittled and upset at what appears to be an unjustified act of discrimination.”
‘Treated like criminal’
Maths teacher Juhel Miah born in Birmingham and brought up in Swansea, said his treatment left him feeling humiliated. His parents are of Bangladeshi origin. “I hope this isn’t true, I really don’t want this to be true but it all started with the first American official I met and the moment she read Mohammad,” he told the Guardian.
Miah said: “There were five or six other officials. Two of them checked me. They made me take my jacket off, my hoodie off, they opened my bag, I took my shoes off. They made me stand on a stool. They rubbed me all the way down. They even pulled my trousers down to check my boxers. They rubbed their hands under my feet. They got a swab and wiped me all over. Eventually they let me go through.”
“This shouldn’t happen to anyone. I’ve followed all the procedures. I’ve ticked all the right boxes yet they made me feel like a criminal. I’ve got no criminal record, I’ve never been in trouble. I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it was happening. I felt powerless, as if I was being targeted and there was nothing I could do,” he added.
President Donald Trump’s executive order was hastily unveiled at the end of his first week in office. While the White House boasted that he was fulfilling a campaign promise to toughen vetting procedures for people coming from countries with terror ties, the order caused chaos at airports in the US and sparked protests across the country. The president has cast the order as crucial for national security.
In its original form, the order temporarily suspended all travel to the US for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
The order was put on hold by the courts and a revised version has not yet been signed though it is understood from a draft that the same seven countries, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya, will be targeted in it.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/e...rigin-british-muslim-teacher-denied-entry-us/
