U.S. Denies Entry to Muslim Briton

One of Britain’s most senior Muslim leaders said Thursday that he was denied entry to the United States without explanation.

Janet Rapaport, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in New York, said customs agents had information that Zaki Badawi was “inadmissible” but privacy rules prevented her from disclosing specific information.

A federal security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Badawi was named on a U.S. terrorism watch list.

On Sunday, Badawi joined other British religious leaders in condemning the July 7 bombings that killed 54 people in London. He appeared with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor; Free Churches Moderator David Coffey; and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Badawi said by telephone that he was detained for about six hours upon his arrival in New York on Wednesday and questioned. “America is a lovely country. There is no reason why it should behave like that,” he said.

Badawi, head of the Muslim College, had been invited to the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y., where he planned to speak on “The Law and Religion in Society.”

He received an honorary knighthood in Britain, and in 2003 he was among Queen Elizabeth II’s guests at a state banquet for President Bush.