linked - Investigating the Terror

MEMORANDUM
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
REF:
DIG - Sherman M. Funk
CA - Mary A. R
United States Departmenl of Stale
Assistant Secrelitn- uf Sltitr A [»\
for Consular Affairs IU '
Washington, D.C. 20520
July 16, 1993
Issuance of Nonimmigrant Visas to Sheik Abdel Rahman
Your Memorandum of July 7, 1993
It is not possible to answer definitively whether or not
visas (particularly the one issued in 1990} should have been
issued or denied based on the evidence and information available
at the time of application, because we do not know with certainty
today the extent of the evidence or information available at
those times. What can be said is that it is still not clear
sufficient evidence or information was available then to ensure
that the visas would have been denied under the existent law had
the proper procedures been followed.
In 1990, given the effect of section 901 of P.L. 100-204
on Section 212 (a) of the Immmigration and Nationality Act (IIIA) ,
mere advocacy of or incitement to acts of terrorism would not
have been sufficient for ineligibility under Section 212 (a)
(28). Then (as now) evidence of actual involvement in terrorist
activity beyond mere words would have been required. Taking into
account that the Sheik had been acquitted by an Egyptian court on
the charges brought against him in the Sadat assassination, there
is no evidence we have seen that clearly establishes that his
activities in support of terrorism extended beyond mere words.