US grants visa to Iranian president for UN summit News
US grants visa to Iranian president for UN summit

[JURIST] The US has provided Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad [BBC profile; official website, in Farsi] a visa, allowing him to attend the UN World Summit 2005 [official website] next week in New York, despite some suspicions that he was part of the 1979 US embassy siege in Iran. A State Department spokesman said the visa had been granted after the US Department of Homeland Security had initially denied the request under the Immigration and Nationality Act. After the State Department said in early August that it might deny Ahmadinejad a visa [JURIST report], President Bush said that the Iranian president would be allowed to attend [JURIST report] the summit. Ahmadinejad has denied allegations [JURIST report] that he was one of a group of radical students that stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 people hostage for over a year. AFP has more.