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US State Department Grants Iraqi Christian Woman Visa after Public Uproar

  • Amanda Casanova

    Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and…

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  • Updated Jul 29, 2015

An Iraqi Christian leader, who was slated to visit the U.S. with other religious leaders from Iraq, has been approved for a visa even though she was initially denied one.

Sister Diana was scheduled to appear with other Iraqi religious leaders to advocate for persecuted religious minorities in Iraq. All the other religious leaders were granted a visa.

In response former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said: “This is an administration which never seems to find a good enough excuse to help Christians, but always finds an excuse to apologize for terrorists … I hope that as it gets attention that Secretary Kerry will reverse it. If he doesn’t, Congress has to investigate, and the person who made this decision ought to be fired.”

FrontPageMag.com reports the State Department eventually approved Sister Diana’s visa after a public uproar.

“This is not the first time the U.S. State Department has not granted a visa to a Christian leader coming from a Muslim region,” Raymond Ibrahim said in a column for ForntPageMag.com. “Last year, after the United States Institute for Peace brought together the governors of Nigeria’s mostly Muslim northern states for a conference in the U.S., the State Department blocked the visa of the region’s only Christian governor, Jonah David Jang.”

Ibrahim writes that Muslims have attacked Christian churches in Pakistan, Egypt, Canada, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Yemen.

Publication date: July 29, 2015