REUTERS. Duke University professor and Iranian dissident Mohsen Kadivar left his home in North Carolina 10 days ago to attend a fellowship program in Germany.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. He said the move would help protect Americans from terrorism.
The ban affects travelers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, including those with dual nationality that includes one of those countries, and extends on a case-by-case basis to “green card” holders who are authorized to live and work in the United States.
In 2001, he traveled to the United States with an invitation from the Islamic Law Program of Harvard Law School for research and teaching. He was awarded the Hellman-Hammett Prize for writers deemed to be at risk from political persecution.
“Besides tearing apart many families, this ban is materializing an objective that the leadership in Tehran has not been able to achieve for decades since the revolution,” said Ali Vaez from the International Crisis Group conflict research group.