The US Department of State has reversed its decision to refuse an Iraqi nun entry to the US.
Sister Diana Momeka has been belatedly granted a visa to attend speaking engagements as part of a delegation of minority groups. She is expected to testify at a number of meetings, including a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, reports National Review.
Nina Shea, Director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, said Momeka had been “really hurt” at being refused entry over what Shea claimed were fears she was “secretly intending to stay”.
“Every member of an Iraqi delegation of minority groups … has been granted visas to come for official meetings in Washington – save one … [who] happens to be the group’s only Christian”, wrote Shea, in an article titled ‘With Malice Toward Nun’.
“The State Department … thought … Sister Diana was plotting to deceive her well-placed friends and supporters, as well as the U.S. government,” wrote Shea on 30 April.
Despite Momeka’s genuine intentions to leave, Shea added that the “U.S. seems determined to deny ISIS’s [other] Christian victims [political asylum]”.