By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 31 January 2017:
In the first official Libya response to the Trump administration’s decision to ban Libyan and a number of other Arab and Middle Eastern nationals, the Presidency Council’s foreign minister, Mohamed Siala, has lambasted the move, saying that banning Libyan citizens from the US was in contravention of international law and the US constitution.
Not only was President Donald Trump’s new law illegal, he said, it also amounted to a gross violation of human rights and was a form of racial discrimination. speaking on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, he also backed the position taken by the Arab League which has called the decision wholly unjustified.
According to the UN, there are about 10,000 Libyan students currently stuck in the US. Many are now afraid to return home for fear they will not be allowed back into the country to continue their studies.
Trump signed an executive order last Friday temporarily banning the entry of residents from Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Initially this was also applied to green card holders and students but Washington now suggests that the former will not be rejected.
