DUBLIN // World leaders reacted with dismay to Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order banning travellers and refugees from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Over the weekend, Mr Trump’s order set off turmoil in airports from the US to the Middle East and Europe, alleviated only partly by a New York City federal judge’s verdict that those trapped in American airports could not be deported back home.
Most withering, perhaps, was the response from German chancellor Angela Merkel – under whom Germany has taken in more than a million refugees over the last two years – who said the US immigration restrictions were not justified.
“The chancellor regrets the entry ban imposed by the US government against refugees and nationals from certain countries,” said her spokesman, Steffan Seibert, on Sunday.
“She is convinced that even the necessary, resolute fight against terrorism doesn’t justify putting people of a particular origin or particular faith under general suspicion.”
The remarks came a day after Mrs Merkel and Mr Trump spoke on the phone for the first time since the US president’s inauguration.
“The Geneva Refugee Convention requires the international community to take in refugees from war on humanitarian grounds,” Mr Seibert said. “All signatory states are expected to do so. The chancellor explained this policy to the US president in their call yesterday.”
British prime minister Theresa May had refused on multiple occasions to comment on the US refugee ban, including during her visit trip to Turkey following her meeting with Mr Trump in Washington DC last week.
After returning to London on Saturday, however, her office released a short statement saying: “We do not agree with this kind of approach, and it is not one we will be taking.”
Mrs May is now under pressure from opposition parties to cancel Mr Trump's planned state visit later this year. An online petition calling for it to be cancelled had garnered more than 300,000 signatures by Sunday evening UAE time – well over the 100,000 needed to ensure the issue is considered for a debate by the British parliament.
French president Francois Hollande was among the first European leaders to voice criticism for the ban, warning Mr Trump against adopting a protectionist stance and calling on him to respect the principle of accepting refugees.
During a phone conversation between the two leaders on Saturday, Mr Hollande stressed the “economic and political consequences of a protectionist approach”, the Elysee Palace said.
Canada, which has accepted nearly 40,000 Syrian refugees since Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister in late 2015, promised to accept those turned away at US borders.
“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength,” Mr Trudeau said on Twitter.
The governments of the seven countries facing the travel ban – Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – also voiced strong criticism of Mr Trump’s order.
Iraq’s foreign affairs committee called on its government to “reciprocate to the decision taken by the US administration”.
“Iraq is in the front line of the war [on] terrorism ... and it is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way,” it said.
Iraq’s influential Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr said American nationals should leave Iraq.
“It would be arrogance for you to enter freely Iraq and other countries while barring to them the entrance to your country ... and therefore you should get your nationals out,” he said on his website.
A Yemeni official, meanwhile, said: “We are dismayed by the decision to unilaterally ban, even for only a month, travel to the United States for people holding Yemeni passports.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Javed Zarif, warned the ban “will be recorded in history as a great gift to extremists and their supporters”.
Tehran announced on Sunday it will no longer permit fresh visas to be issued to Americans, although Mr Zarif clarified that “unlike the US, our decision is not retroactive. All with valid Iranian visa will be gladly welcomed”.
Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country that was not on Mr Trump’s blacklist, expressed “deep regrets about the policy”.
Only the leaders of parties on the far right, in various countries, expressed support for Mr Trump.
In the UK, Nigel Farage, the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party and one of the leading proponents of Brexit, told the BBC he supported the travel ban.
“In this country, I would like to see extreme vetting ... This is what Trump’s supporters want him to do.”
Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Islam politician, commended Mr Trump on Twitter. “It’s the only way to stay safe + free. I would do the same.”
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
* Additional reporting from Agence France-Presse and Reuters
