Sunday, May 03, 2009
Nur Munir
Nur Munir, a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, and U.S. resident for more than ten years, is likely to be deported to Indonesia, where he faces the possibility of political retaliation from the former military supporters of President Suharto.
While working as an official in Indonesia’s Cairo embassy in 1998, Munir recorded statements by President Suharto in which he disclosed that he would be willing to resign from power. Munir leaked this recording to Indonesia’s largest daily newspaper, and within ten days, the military had forced Suharto to resign, ending the dictator’s oppressive, 31-year regime. When summoned a few days later by the Cairo embassy’s military officials, Munir fled to the United States, seeking safety for himself and his family.
However, Munir’s application for asylum was denied on the grounds that his fears were not backed up by concrete proof of a risk of persecution. During the appeal of his application, a process slowed down by the restructuring of the U.S. immigration system following the founding of the Department of Homeland Security, Munir has continued to reside in the United States with his wife and daughter, and is currently pursuing a graduate education in the intellectual foundations of Islam at Harvard Divinity School.
On March 18, 2009, the Third Circuit court supported the ruling of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which stated that, although Munir’s testimony is valid and his fear of persecution is unfeigned, he is not eligible for asylum because he cannot present the evidence of a well-founded, objective fear. The Third Circuit also confirmed the BIA’s finding that Indonesia’s current political climate is not hostile towards those who contributed to Suharto’s resignation. Shortly after the Third Circuit’s determination, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Munir at the York County Prison in Pennsylvania, pending deportation.
Fellow Harvard students and professors are advocating for a deferral of his removal from the United States until Munir completes his studies, but prospects appear doubtful.
-Melanie Young
Harvard Divinity Student Faces Deportation (by Matt Hutchins, Harvard Law Record, Harvard Law School)
Foreign Divinity School Student Detained (by Jessie J. Jiang, Harvard Crimson, Harvard University)
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