US counterterrorism travel curbs seen as unjust in Middle East

CAIRO/BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Arabs and Iranians planning trips to the United States described new US counterterrorism travel curbs as insulting and discriminatory on Saturday as five Iraqis and a Yemeni were stopped from boarding a New York-bound flight in Cairo.

In the Muslim-majority countries affected by the restrictions, some would-be travelers planning family visits, work trips or seeking a new life away from war said they no longer wanted to go to the United States.

“It’s not fair and it’s not right to portray huge groups of Arabs and Muslims as possible terrorists,” said Najeed Haidari, a Yemeni-American security manager for an oil company in Yemen, a day after US President Donald Trump put a four-month hold on refugee arrivals and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other mainly Muslim nations.

“This is a stupid, terrible decision that will hurt the American people more than us or anybody else, because it shows that this president can’t manage people, politics or global relationships,” Haidari said.

In the most sweeping use of his presidential powers since taking office a week ago, Trump signed an executive order on Friday to pause the entry of travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days.

He said separately that he wanted the US to give priority to Syrian Christians fleeing the civil war there.

The travel curbs took effect immediately, causing havoc and confusion for would-be travelers with passports from the seven countries.

Sources at Cairo airport said the five Iraqi passengers and one Yemeni, arriving in transit to Cairo airport, were stopped and redirected to flights headed for their home countries despite holding valid visas.

Fariba, an Iranian-American who declined to give her family name and lives in New Jersey, said her parents would not be able to fulfill plans to visit her to celebrate the Iranian New Year in March.

“This is an unfair decision. What is our sin? What have we done to deserve such a ban? Iranians have never been involved in terrorist acts in the US,” she said.

“This ban will ruin our lives. Thank you, Mr. President. Are you making America great by hurting innocent people?”

Some people planning US travel said the curbs would harm their careers. Others feared for the safety of their families.

In Baghdad, Bayan Adil, a doctor working in the Iraqi Health Ministry who applied for a US visa to attend a medical seminar, said Iraqi academics should visit Europe instead of the US, where they were no longer welcome.

“Trump’s decision is unfortunately a humiliating insult not only for us as academics but for all Iraqis,” she said.

Her comments were echoed by Abd al-Jafar, a 43-year-old professor in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, who said he had been trying to travel to the US for doctoral studies.

“This decision, if implemented, will be a disaster,” he said. “I have work in Sudan and have no desire to emigrate to the US, just to study there. This decision is illogical.”

In Beirut, Joumana Ghazi Chehade, 34, a refugee from Yarmuk in Syria living in the Lebanese capital’s Burj al-Barajneh camp, said the decision would “destroy a lot of people.

“It’s our right to fear for our children’s lives. This decision is wrong. Of course we’re not going to go blow anything up... All we are asking for is security and freedom.”

Qatar Airways advised passengers bound for the US from the seven newly banned countries that they needed to have either a US green card or a diplomatic visa.