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Mahathir hits out at U.S. immigration checks
Staff and wires
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has condemned as "anti-Muslim" new U.S. immigration rules which target visitors from mostly Muslim and Middle East countries. From Tuesday, U.S. immigration officers will register, fingerprint and photograph anyone fitting what they consider to be a "terrorist" profile. The move is part of a continued overhaul of American security and immigration procedures in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. The U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur announced Friday that some Malaysian citizens are likely to be effected by the new entry and exit regulations. Malaysia is a majority Muslim country. "Along with citizens of many other countries, some Malaysian citizens are likely to be encounter these new procedures upon their arrival in the US," the embassy said. 'Upset'Mahathir denounced the policy, saying there is "already a general anti-Muslim hysteria" in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. "Because of the acts of a few people, the whole Muslim world seems to have been labeled, " he said. "It's their country, so I don't know what we can do about it. Of course I'm upset. I am not a thief, I am not a terrorist," Mahathir told reporters. His comments were echoed by Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid in an interview with the English-language Star newspaper Tuesday. "The U.S. is not only behaving like a superpower, it is acting like a hyperpower," he told the paper, adding that the new policy constituted "discriminatory profiling". Last month Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad was asked to remove his shoes for security checking before boarding a flight from Los Angeles to New York where he was due to address the United Nations. "All of us had to undergo the same security checks, even the pilot. I was not exempted," Abdullah told reporters Monday. Abdullah has been nominated by Mahathir as his chosen successor when he steps down from the post of prime minister at the end of next year. Reuters contributed to this report.
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