The US State Department has announced a strict travel ban on Syria’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar jaafari, saying he cannot leave the five boroughs of New York City anymore.
The State Department declined to discuss the details of the matter, but the announcement comes after complaints from pro-rebel Syrian-Americans that the ambassador had traveled around the US on a “propaganda tour” for the Assad government.
The announcement is unusual but not unprecedented, as the State Department has imposed similar restrictions on the UN Ambassadors from North Korea and Iran.
It would be extremely unusual for the State Department to impose such a restriction entirely to prevent an ambassador from making speeches inside the United States, and while they haven’t confirmed this as the reason, there has been no suggestion of an alternative justification.
